


Milkshake Hearts

by deptofweirdsounds



Category: Smosh
Genre: A Very Long Fluff-Fest, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Smut, mature - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2021-03-07
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:54:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 80
Words: 165,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27187567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deptofweirdsounds/pseuds/deptofweirdsounds
Summary: Sometimes all it takes to change everything for the better is one little joke.An endless parade of fictional Shourtney fluff, growth and love.
Relationships: Courtney Miller/Shayne Topp
Comments: 12
Kudos: 47





	1. Prologue: Want to get milkshakes?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This has been posted over the last month and a bit over on the other site, but thought I may as well put it here too. Note that in the case of AO3, mature content will be placed within the story but will be marked as such and can be entirely skipped without any story implications.
> 
> Author's Note & Introduction from other site:
> 
> Hi all!
> 
> Before I get into this story (finally), I've just got a few little introductory points to make, and I'd appreciate if you read them.
> 
> Firstly, a note that equally applies to all my fic, but which I want to make especially clear here. When I write Shayne x Courtney fanfiction, I'm not writing about the people that exist in real life with those names. I am merely using their likeness - and that of any other characters in the story - to create a fictional character. This fic will, inevitably, draw on content and concepts that exist in actual-Smosh territory. That does not mean that at any point is anything I write reflective of reality. It's a story, it's fiction.
> 
> And it never goes anywhere near the people involved.
> 
> Secondly, and very importantly: when I first started writing the story that has become this one, it was actually based on someone else's fic. I've since rewritten it entirely - this fic now stands entirely on its own and is not reliant on or based on any other existing fic - it is its own separate fic-world. That being said, I still want to acknowledge that the idea of milkshakes and jokes about milkshakes was inspired by Summer Girl by simplymarina, which is a wonderful fic and I would absolutely recommend you go and read it if you somehow haven't already.
> 
> Thirdly, some style notes:
> 
> \- I'm Australian. For the most part, I've avoided including outright Australian English in the sense that the American characters should speak American and everything plot and story-related is firmly set in America. However, my spelling is going to be Australian, the major one being that I write 'Mum' instead of 'Mom'.
> 
> \- A novel follows a clear plotline, and this is not a novel. It's basically a never-ending fluff-fest. There isn't going to be one big plot resolution goal that I eventually reach and end the story. This story can basically keep going as long as I think of things to write. That being said, there will be bits and pieces of "plot" that grow and evolve throughout and it is absolutely one, coherent story, not a series of separate stories.

“What about you, Court court? You got a tinder date or something this weekend?” Olivia pries, leaning back on her chair at the breakroom table as she picks at the lunch in front of her with a fork.

“You know I gave up on the dating apps a while ago dude, I’m being super boring, no plans at all this weekend,” Courtney replies, shaking her head, “I’m guessing you’re being fancy with Sam?”

“Of course, and visiting my Mum. You’re such a loser though, is it that hard to find someone to hang out with on the weekend?” Olivia turns it back on Courtney, and she’s obviously joking, but Courtney still rolls her eyes.

“I mean, I’m not doing anything either,” Shayne pipes up, shrugging, “you wanna do something Friday night Court? Dinner and games or somefuck?”

“Yeah, sure, that sounds cool,” Courtney answers, with a shrug.

“Ooooooh Shourtney date!” Ian adds his commentary. Shayne kicks his chair in response, while Courtney flips him the finger.

“Not every hangout is a date, asshole. It sure as shit wasn’t a date when I got dinner with you last weekend. What are you up to this weekend, anyway? Car club stuff?” Courtney turns the questioning on Ian, inadvertently sending him into a tirade about something car-related that the rest of them only vaguely listen to as they continue their lunch break.

“Any preferences for what we actually do tomorrow night?” Shayne falls into step beside her that afternoon in the hallway, both of them having packed up and decided to leave for the day at the same time.

“Not really. I’ve been feeling diner vibes lately though – if we get milkshakes I might cum,” Courtney jokes, giving him a nod of thanks when he holds the outer door open and steps back to let her through first. He laughs loudly at her in response.

“Amazing. I’ll come up with something,” he tells her, before they head in separate directions to their own cars.

“When should I come over to yours?” Courtney asks him, mid-morning the following day as they walk between the office and one of the studios to shoot a random pit video.

“I’ll pick you up, I’m looking after this truck for my Dad at the moment and I need to actually drive it, it’s just been sitting at my place too much. 7 good?” He responds, and she nods in affirmation, letting their conversation end as they move back into work mode.

He sends her a text to say he’s outside at five minutes to seven, and she isn’t ready, of course. She texts him back a quick ‘just a sec’, rushing around for another three minutes to find her shoes that she swears she left at the end of her bed the previous day but they aren’t there and it’s not like she’s dressing up, she’s just hanging out with Shayne, how is she still so late-

“Okay, sorry, couldn’t find my fucking shoes but I’m here now,” Courtney explains, sliding into the passenger seat of the truck at a couple minutes past seven, “why are you looking after this, anyway?”

“No problem. And I don’t fucking know, honestly,” he answers with half a laugh as he starts the vehicle and begins driving, “they’re moving house at the moment, moving up to Thousand Oaks actually – but I have no idea why that means they don’t actually want the truck more for moving things? I dunno. Maybe garage space, as if I’m not breaking rules by having two cars for a one-bedroom apartment at my place.”

“Yeah, look, can’t say it makes any sense to me. Where we going, anyway?” Courtney switches the topic, and Shayne shrugs.

“New pizza place, if that’s cool with you? I’ve heard good things, Goldbergs guys recommended it.”

“Of course pizza is okay with me,” she laughs, before they fall into a casual conversation for the remainder of the drive to a small shopping strip that appears to be mostly comprised of eateries.

“Oh, and there’s a takeaway milkshake place beside it, so if you still want a milkshake after the pizza…” Shayne trails off as they walk towards the pizzeria. Courtney lightly hits his arm in response, although she doesn’t pretend she isn’t fond of the idea, and after they finish their relaxed pizza dinner – it’s decent pizza, although not earth-shatteringly good like they’d been led to believe – they wander into the small store next door.

“What you want?” Shayne asks her, as they stand back from the counter and look up at the menu board, waiting for the group of teenagers in front of them to place their orders.

“Oooh they have coffee,” she muses, in response, “probably coffee.”

Shayne, for his part, goes with a classic caramel and pulls out his card to pay for both of them. It’s easier than splitting, anyway. There’s absolutely no space in the actual milkshake shop to consume their milkshakes, so they step outside with drinks in hand and wander back towards the truck.

“You up for just driving somewhere instead of going straight to one of our places? I feel like just… hanging out somewhere,” he suggests as he twists the key in the ignition.

“Sure, where you thinking?” Courtney responds, awkwardly twisting to the side to put her seatbelt on with one hand while refusing to put down the milkshake. Like, she could use one of the cupholders, but that would be too logical.

“Up in the hills?” Shayne suggests, and she merely nods in response, falling into a comfortable silent for a few minutes. They aren’t far from the foothills anyway, and once they start climbing up into the mountains and the traffic starts thinning out – or, at least, thinning by LA standards – she starts rambling about a movie she watched the other day that she knows he would never see. He engages in conversation anyway, though, laughing good-naturedly at her supposedly poor taste until he pulls into a deserted parking area near the top of one of the hills, reversing into a space. They’re surrounded by honest-to-god forest, but the back of the truck is pointing towards a less dense patch of greenery that reveals hints of the cityscape below them.

“How’d you find this place?” she asks, following his lead as he opens his door and steps out of the car to move towards and climb into the tray at the back.

“I can’t remember who told me about it actually, found it ages ago. Sometimes I come here when I want to be moody and whatever but it’s kind of spooky alone,” he admits, settling into place just beside her.

They fall into a comfortable silence as they continue to take occasional sips of their respective milkshakes, letting the silence wash over them as the light pollution shining through the trees keeps the atmosphere free of complete darkness.


	2. Chapter 1: Between Joking and Reality

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW for direct sexual references but no actual explicit content!

“So, did you cum?” Shayne breaks the silence some time later, grinning as he turns his head slightly to the right to meet Courtney’s eyes.

“What?” she tilts her head in confusion, although she can’t resist letting out a puff of air in almost-laughter at his smile.

“You said if you got a milkshake you might cum, so did you? I just want to know my performance here, dude,” He elaborates, and this time she laughs fully.

“No, asshole, you gotta try a bit harder than that to make me cum. That’s just... milkshakes are just like pre-foreplay, okay?” She plays along, watching as he turns his head to face forward again and leans back against the truck cabin.

“Well if you ever want to give me the opportunity to try something else, I’d happily take it,” he tells her, his voice betraying no change in tone from his earlier joke.

“Noted, although to be fair you’ve inadvertently made me cum a bunch of times anyway,” she muses in response, now also looking back out at the almost-visible sunset through the trees in front of them and absentmindedly thinking back to her regular Shayne-based fantasy.

“Oh? How?” He pries, and she feels his eyes on her again. She meets them as she speaks, shrugging off the awkwardness her mind is trying to make her feel. 

“Dude, you’re like, the perfect fantasy and I’ve been single for a WHILE-“ she pauses for emphasis, “I gotta get off sometimes, y’know, and you’re strong and muscley and hot as hell but you’re soft and caring AF too, and fantasising about you being super in control but super caring about it is just… perfect.”

“Oh, so it’s not a mistake that your hands are constantly all over my biceps?” He grins even wider now, and she just laughs and shakes her head. “Good thing I like you touching me because I need my own fantasy source, too,” he adds, after a moment of silence. 

“Oh? What kind of fantasies? Are you a... top? Shayne Topp?” She pushes, and he shakes his head as if throwing off her joke.

“Ha, funny. Actually, I get plenty of use out of the same fantasy as you, apparently. I don’t hate control but I’m never gonna hurt you or do anything you don’t explicitly consent to and I care a whole lot about you, so...” he trails off, and Courtney let’s her grin soften in response. He’s such a sweetheart.

“Care about you too, Shayney, and I really love that I do have you to be a protective boy when I need it. God, I mean, I know you’ve listened to me complain about dudes and how I always feel like I’m watching my back with everyone, and I mean most of the work squad are fine but you are the only boi I completely trust to never take advantage of me. I mean, hell, there’s been so many times you could’ve and you did the exact opposite, and I kind of throw myself all over you with our little wrestling matches but I know you are SO careful how you fight back, you really are the perfect little caring idiot. Granted, you would be a little more perfect if you let me win sometimes,” she rambles, a little, leaning slightly to the side and letting their shoulders brush as she does.

“I mean, I don’t think it should be notable that I show you respect, and I’m like that with everyone but- yeah, I like that you trust me and I’d never dare betray that. I am a little protective- I know you’re strong and independent and you sure as hell don’t need me around, I don’t mean I think you need protection, I just-“ 

“No, I know what you mean. You know I’m kinda protective of you too, dude,” Courtney cuts him off, and he nods.

“I trust you to the ends of the earth too,” he continues, “It’s why I let you touch me all the time - it’s not like everyone gets to do that. Hell, I’d yell at Damien if he jabbed at my stomach under my shirt as much as you do. But you’re special, I have no problem with you getting handsy and I know you only do it because you know I’m okay with it. You’re dumb trustworthy perfect Courtney, you know?”

“Burpy. You forgot burpy,” she adds, pausing for a moment. “Do I burp in your fantasies?” She queries, reaching over and jabbing him in the abdomen with her pointer finger as she does so, although through his shirt this time. She shamelessly lets her finger run across the slight groove between his abs before bringing her hand back to her own lap as he responds. 

“You know what, I don’t think you do - I honestly can’t remember. Do you burp during sex?”

“Oh boy, why don’t you find out?” she shoots back, mocking offence at the suggestion. 

“I told you, I’m up for it,” he quips, voice rising to an artificially high pitch as he does. She leans away from him slightly in response, only so she can lightly punch him in the shoulder before falling back against his side, closer than before.

“You know, I don’t think I ever have burped during sex, but I guess there’s a first time for everything. I dunno. Do you do your stupid screams during sex or is it the one time you shut up?”

“Excuse me, my screams are fucking hot, you ass,” he gasps defensively, “but we’re in the middle of nowhere in a forest up a mountain after sunset and I feel like screaming right now would just fuck up everything somehow.”

“Awww, you a little scared boi?” Courtney coos, reading between the lines, and he rolls his eyes.

“Shut up and drink your damn milkshake, not wanting to fight off mountain lions is perfectly reasonable.”

“Already am, asshole,” she punctuates her statement with an intentionally loud slurp through the straw of her drink, now close to empty, “how much do I owe you for it?”

“Nah, it’s on me,” Shayne brushes her off.

“Cute,” she answers, not bothered to fight him this time. Honestly, she doesn’t know why she bothered asking – it’s been a long time since they worried about who was paying for anything they did together.

His soft laugh in response lacks the comedic tone of their earlier conversations and it causes her to pause and turn her head fully to look at him, watching him focusing out into the distance barely visible between the foliage in front of him. They sit in silence, Shayne processing, Courtney simply letting him do so. They’ve known each other for long enough - she can tell when he’s deep in thought, and she has no issue giving him the time to sit in stillness beside her. Truthfully, sitting in complete comfortable silence with him is one of her favourite things to do, and she lets herself relax into the rapidly cooling night air and distant insect noises without her gaze leaving the side of his face.

“You know,” he breaks the silence a few minutes later, “there is no one else that I could openly, and like, abstractly discuss having sex with and fantasising about and have it just be... a normal conversation. You really are something else, Court,” he pauses for longer this time, but she stays quiet, knowing he isn’t finished. “I have no problem at all with having these conversations with you, I love that we do, even this one that went way, way further than we ever have before, but sometimes...” he trails off, sighing as his tone turns slightly anxious. He wrings his fingers together for a moment before letting his gaze drift sideways to meet hers, and she answers by letting her hand fall on his thigh and their legs press together as if to comfort him. “We tease and we play around like it’s all a joke, even though we both know there’s some reality in there about trust and protectiveness and all that, but sometimes I wonder whether that line between joking and reality isn’t in the same place for both of us.”

“Try me?” Courtney answers, cautiously. “Like, start from the top. Were you joking when you asked if the milkshake made me cum?” She asks matter-of-factly, and he laughs. The lightness reminds him who he’s talking to, that he really has nothing to worry about. Courtney wouldn’t ever set out to hurt him, he knows as much. 

“Yes, because if it did I would be concerned for your health,” he answers, shaking his head. “I’m hoping calling milkshakes pre-foreplay was a joke?”

“Oh, yes, I get no real sexual pleasure from cold drinks. Unless they’re being actively used for something, I guess. Not that I’ve ever done anything like that, what, I guess it’d be temperature play? - and that’s not a joke either. Um, where were we?” She finishes abruptly, expecting him to laugh, but he doesn’t. 

“Um, me saying I’d take the opportunity to make you cum if you wanted to give me it,” Shayne squirms slightly, gaze drifting down from her eyes out of fear she can read him a little too well. 

“Oh, yeah. Was that a joke? Are you looking at my boobs?” She asks, fully aware he isn’t and also knowing she wouldn’t care if he was – it just felt like he needed something else to respond to, as well.

“No I- I’m looking at your neck because your eyes are killing me, you know your boobs aren’t that high,” he forces a grin, and forces himself to meet her eyes again, “not a joke. Um- fantasising about me when you get off?”

“Definitely not a joke. Actually, nothing else I said was a joke,” she responds, and she’s trying to act cool and confident, but they can both see the nerves below the surface. “Is that- is your line the same?” She pushes when he doesn’t respond for a moment.

“Yeah. I wasn’t joking about anything else either,” he answers, his tone softer than she’s heard it for quite a while as he shifts his gaze around rapidly, settling on her hand on his thigh. He places his own hand on top of hers before meeting her eyes again, “And you know it’s - like, yeah, you’re sexy as hell and I absolutely fantasise about you and I would jump at the opportunity to do anything at all with you but it’s not just that. I’m like... kind of in- no, not kind of. I’m absolutely in love with you, and I know this is all a lot out of the blue but I just-” he cuts himself off, not sure where else to go with his statement.

“Baby,” Courtney’s pet name catches him by surprise, although it’s a welcome surprise that instinctively draws his body closer to hers, “it’s not out of the blue. It’s- we’ve been going on dates and calling them hanging out for a while. We’ve been dancing around everything forever even though we’ve been emotionally committed for ages but we pretend there’s nothing there and I’m tired of pretending too.”

“You’re so important to me and I wish I could more clearly show you how much,” Shayne admits, the nerves slowly filtering out of his tone.

“You’re important to me too, Shayne. I’m in love with you too, you’re kind of everything to me and I really like the idea of being honest and open about that,” she tells him, letting their fingers resting on his thigh twist together. 

“I want that too. And I don’t want to do the half-attached dating thing with you. I want to be clear what we are, and of course it’s whatever you’re comfortable with but I - if I get the label of your boyfriend and we’re an exclusive couple, I’d be very happy,” he squeezes her hand gently.

“I would really love being able to call you my boyfriend, and I guess if you want that too, then... you are, yeah?,” she moves closer to him in response, cuddling up to his side. He lets go of her hand on his thigh, only to wrap his arm around her shoulder as the other hand reaches up to gently rest against her cheek, gently coaxing them into a more comfortable position to look directly at each other.

“Yeah. Can I kiss you, Courtney?” His voice is barely above a whisper, but she hears it loud and clear against the silent forest backdrop as she nods, twisting to the side as they both lean in.

They kiss gently at first - they’ve aggressively and messily made out before for that one sketch, but this is new. It’s soft, and serious, and it builds slowly with intent. Courtney recognises the irony when she is the one to break the kiss for half a second and shift around to sit on his lap, given the conversation about Shayne topping her which started this whole thing, but she can’t bring herself to stay away from his lips long enough comment on it.

Her hands end up cradling his face, while one of his presses firmly against her lower back to hold her close and the other slides into her hair, tugging ever so slightly as she moves. It causes her to gasp into his mouth, and when she next shifts on his lap to adjust her angle she feels a recognisable pressure pushing back up against her. It isn’t unwelcome, although it gives her pause and she pulls back for a moment to assess their situation.

“Shit, I’m sorry-“ he starts to apologise, but Courtney reaches forward and places a finger on his lips to stop him.

“Don’t apologise. I’m super turned on over here, too. I just... don’t want to fuck you in the back of a truck just off a road up a random LA hill. Maybe we should... kill the horniness, just for tonight, anyway.”

“I get that, yeah. Maybe we should head back, it’s getting late,” Shayne suggests. Courtney nods in agreement, although it’s another few minutes of soft kisses before they pull away to get back inside their vehicle. Shayne turns the keys to start the truck, flicking the headlights on and easing them back onto the road to head back down towards the part of LA they both live in.

————————————————

“So you know how Ian literally tried to tease us about this being a date… Do we keep hiding stuff in front of everyone?” Courtney asks, shifting their conversation fifteen minutes into their drive back to reality.

“I don’t want to,” Shayne admits, “I want to just be natural and not have to second guess how I am around you. I mean, in front of the cameras, yeah, I think we need to hold back for a while and have a longer discussion about what happens there. But as for friends and co-workers and family... I don’t want to sneak around if you’re okay with being open.”

“No, I get it, the last thing I want to do is keep pretending. Let’s just... be. We probably should tell Ian pretty quickly, though. HR and all.”

“Yeah, I’ll try and find him first thing Monday. I guess everyone else it’s just… as they find out?” Shayne shrugs, voice trailing off as he switches his concentration to quickly move across the freeway they’re on and exit towards Courtney’s house. Courtney pauses until they’re off the freeway.

“I guess that’s the only way to do it. I’ll probably straight-up tell Olivia when I next see her, but I don’t plan on seeing her until Monday at work,” she muses.

“Same with Damien, probably,” Shayne confirms as he pulls the truck into Courtney’s apartment complex car park. He eases slowly into a free parking space just near her apartment, shutting the engine off and turning in his seat to face her. “I promise I didn’t plan for tonight to go like this, my milkshake joke really was an impulse, but I- I’m really happy it did. Are you okay with everything?” 

“More than okay, Shayne. Way more than okay. Are you coming in, or heading home?” she asks gently, and he tilts his head to the side.

“As much as I want to come in – I think we’d probably end up in bed together, and I kind of want to… not on the first real date, I guess?” he admits, tone turning mildly awkward.

“I get that, that’s fine. You think I can get one more kiss before I head inside?” she requests. He doesn’t give any vocal confirmation, but they both shift to lean over the centre console and meet in the middle.

There is more heat, this time, each pressing firm kisses against the other’s lips, quickly merging into making out despite their awkward positioning. Courtney grips his arm with one hand for stability, the other running messily through his soft hair. For his part, his arms start looped loosely around her neck before he drifts one hand down and under her shirt to press against the skin of her back. It is her shiver in response that breaks their kiss this time, although they don’t pull away, hands staying in place as their foreheads rest together.

“I’m not doing great at toning down the horniness,” Courtney admits, punctuating her own statement with a puff of laughter.

“Neither,” Shayne answers, simply, eyes glancing down momentarily. Courtney’s gaze follows, landing on the noticeable bulge in his pants.

“You know I can just ignore mine, how are you going to deal with that?” She teases, and he laughs, noticeably awkward again.

“I gotta drive back to mine, so hopefully also ignoring it and the traffic sucks?” he offers, avoiding the topic until he decides to change tack, “or thinking of the least sexy things possible. Any suggestions?”

“Joven,” she answers immediately, and it causes him to laugh loudly before he moves back into his seat and opens his door, Courtney following his lead and stepping out of the car. She uses the ten seconds before they meet again in front of the car to come up with more ideas. “Anthropogenic climate change, you’ve got finals soon, our President-“ she continues to list as they walk towards her apartment entrance, “-puppy farms and dead, unwanted puppies, the overwhelming pressure we’re putting on young people to fix the world adults are screwing up-”

“Okay, I said unsexy, not overwhelmingly depressing,” he cuts her off, “those work, though, thanks.”

“Anything for you, baby,” she answers, sweetly. Usually that statement would be a joke, but she tries the genuine version on for size, relishing in how well it sits with her as they pause at her door.

“I guess we part here,” Shayne murmurs softly.

“I guess so. Thanks, Shayne. This has been- the best date ever,” she tells him, and he gives her a wide, genuine smile as he opens his arms for her to fall into. They hug tightly for a moment, swaying slightly, before he speaks again, close to her ear.

“Goodnight, Courtney. Thank you. And I love you,” his lips brush against her cheek, not quite a full kiss but clearly intentional, as they pull away.

“Love you too,” she answers warmly before she finally turns away from him to unlock her door and step inside. He steps back away from her door, giving her a slight wave before he turns back towards his car and she lets her door close behind her.

She can’t help but squeal in excitement after he leaves, muffling the sound in a pillow she quickly grabs from her couch so none of her neighbours can hear.


	3. Chapter 2: Above Board

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For what it's worth, currently in May 2019, but any references to other cast members are random and don't really reflect what their actual presence with the brand was at any point in time. On to the chapter!

Shayne expected to struggle to sleep, expected his brain to be wired with arousal and anxiety that he did something wrong despite the fact Courtney had indicated everything otherwise, but instead he feels relaxed and content and falls asleep within minutes of his head hitting the pillow. He wakes early the following morning as he always does, sliding out of bed and quickly getting his things ready to head to the gym.

His morning routine is heavily set in stone, rarely shifting from his usual. He can tell he’s got more of a spring in his step than usual, though, and while he often uses working out as time to process whatever’s going through his head, he can’t remember the last time he was attempting to look _more_ angry so he didn’t look like a weirdo fucking grinning while he lifted weights.

Courtney, for her part, does struggle to sleep properly – she’s a little too disbelieving, mentally replaying the evening’s events in her mind to make sure they’re actually real. She does eventually fall asleep, though, setting herself up for a late start to Saturday morning and a relatively quiet weekend sorting out a bunch of errands around home.

They maintain a conversation via text with each other over the whole weekend, although the only real difference to their discussions prior to their Friday-night revelation is the ‘x’ they each add to the end of the occasional text.

Shayne arrives at work before she does on Monday morning, immediately zeroing in on their president when he spots him walking alone out of the kitchen and through their main office space.

“Hey, Ian, can I talk to you for a sec?” Shayne asks him, quietly.

“Yeah, what’s up?” Ian asks, matching his quiet tone and walking them subtly away from everyone else’s desks, letting the morning chatter amongst the team drown out their conversation.

“So, um, I know there’s not like- a rule around cast relationships anymore. But we thought from like a HR perspective and just keeping everything above board we should let you know; Courtney and I are kind of together as of this weekend. Well, more than kind of. Pretty seriously, actually,” Shayne tells him, not sure how else to phrase it.

“Finally, so I guess Friday night was a Shourtney date?” Ian’s sarcastic grin makes an appearance for a moment before he turns serious, “but, yeah, thanks for letting me know. It’s all good though, as long as nothing inappropriate happens on camera we’re fine. You planning on telling anyone else?”

“Friday wasn’t meant to be a date but… yeah, guess it became one. Anyway. Yeah, we’re not going to hide anything around here,” Shayne answers, shifting his gaze instinctively to watch as Courtney walks into the office and glances around, immediately beelining in their direction when she sees them. “Not going public at all, though. Just family and friends.”

“Morning Ian,” she starts as she reaches them. She stands close beside Shayne, although is clearly avoiding touching him. “What are we talking about?”

“You’re good, Courtney, he’s told me,” Ian reassures her, his tone quickly switching from corporate to caring, “and also, on a personal note as your fake older brother Court – I’m super happy for you. Both of you.”

“Thanks Ian,” she answers, smiling, finally letting herself shift into Shayne’s side and wrapping an arm around his back. Ian leaves them be, then, allowing Shayne to direct all his attention to her.

“Good morning, Court,” he greets her softly.

“Good morning baby,” she replies, biting her lip for a moment to control her smile before she leans up and presses a quick kiss to his lips, which he returns. They both quickly pull away again, knowing they are standing in their very open-plan office, but they’re evidently not quick enough. Olivia lets out a surprised yelp from just near them, grabbing their attention and that of a handful of others.

Thankfully, most of the room is too otherwise distracted to notice – it’s a busy morning in the office, they’ve got their whole cast in to film a couple of larger videos and it’s been a while for some of those that are no longer full-time employees, so everyone is loudly catching up. Still, a small group now has their attention piqued.

“You!” Olivia exclaims, pointing at Courtney and Shayne. Courtney just laughs, reaching up to press her hand gently against the back of his shoulder to encourage him to walk closer to Olivia-and-co.

“Yes?” Shayne prompts her, and Courtney can’t help herself from gazing across at him. 

“When did this happen? Was your Friday catchup legit a date?” Olivia asks, eyes wide.

“It wasn’t _intentionally_ , but it kinda became one,” Courtney shrugs, “we were just hanging out normally but – ended up having a conversation that was quite a while overdue. And now we’re together. But not, like, publicly.”

“Okay, that’s awesome, I’m so excited for you idiots!” she exclaims in response, while the handful of others listening in – Noah, Kimmy, Sarah and Monica – nod along to the explanation before turning their attention to Olivia’s antics.

“I am not surprised,” Noah is the first to directly address them, and Shayne laughs. 

“No one is.”

They all move apart to actually go and start their work for the day a moment later, Courtney quickly brushing off Olivia’s attempt to bombard her with questions, telling her they’ll catch up later. They all quite quickly end up in a mixture of meetings and discussions and shoots for most of the morning, leaving no time for any more questioning – or reveals – until large sections of the cast settle into the breakroom for lunch.

“Hey,” Shayne greets Courtney and Olivia almost awkwardly when he arrives in the room as one of the last to start his lunch break and ambles over to where they’re sitting on the small sofa, glancing around the room for somewhere to sit.

“You’re out of luck for seats, dude,” Olivia tells him, in response, and Courtney pauses for a moment in consideration before glancing up at him.

“Orrrrr we could share a spot?” she offers, standing up when he nods slightly to let him take her spot at an angle that allows her to then sit back down almost in his lap, legs across his. She settles back into conversation with Olivia as Shayne eats his lunch, occasionally adding in a comment although largely sitting in silence and listening.

“So are you cool if I like… actively cuddle you here or nah?” Shayne whispers just near her ear, after he’s finished his lunch a few minutes later. She nods in response, shifting closer and leaning back against his chest as he wraps both arms around her. She clasps his hands with her own, briefly turning her head sideways to press a kiss to his cheek as Olivia shifts into conversation with Noah, sitting on a chair to her other side.

“Well, this is new,” Damien starts, suddenly appearing in front of them with his own lunch and a chair stolen from another room. He looks at them expectantly as he places the chair and sits down, but they don’t say anything, so he continues. “Don’t tell me this is just normal friendship too, now?”

“It’s not,” Shayne laughs uneasily, “sorry I didn’t tell you first Dames, I didn’t exactly know how to bring it up over the weekend or anything so like… yeah.”

“It’s all good, dude. When and how did things change?” Damien asks them, and Courtney looks to Shayne to continue the response.

“We got dinner and hung out Friday night, and we just kind of… fell into a conversation about everything and yeah. Together now for real, seriously, and I’m very content,” he replies, squeezing Courtney’s hands where they’re tangled with his. She can feel his remaining nerves about telling his best friend in the way his hands move, so she gives a responding grip that she hopes is comforting.

“That’s awesome, guys. Super happy for you, and I’ll leave needling you for more information for another time, Shayne,” Damien grins in response, and Courtney feels Shayne noticeably relax against her in response.

It’s hot in the office with so many people around – and it’s May in LA, so it’s warm anyway – but it doesn’t stop them from remaining pressed together as they fall into constant conversation with everyone around them until their next shoot for a group games video after lunch. The warmth Courtney feels from being held against him is entirely different from the oppressive heat in the air; it’s a soft, comforting heat she has no intention of ever leaving although she knows their call time is approaching and she’ll have to move soon.

“Courtney! What you doing getting cosy with Shayne, we doing teams for this one and I know you’re on my team and he isn’t!” Keith admonishes her loudly, although jokingly, when they all start to make their move down the hallway to pile into the games studio for a Mario Party tournament that was indeed arranged into teams.

“As much as I love this boy to pieces-“ she starts, turning to press a kiss to his cheek for show, “-I’m still going to kick his ass,” she finishes her statement with an admittedly very weak hit to his shoulder. Her drive to fight him is a little less present when she knows she can get her hands on him in exactly the way she wants to, instead.

Keith gives some positive response, but it’s lost in the noise as Sarah and Matt start shouting orders at them all as to where they need to sit on the set.

Courtney’s team does surprisingly well, and for once she manages to escape any punishments – no thanks, of course, to having Damien as her third team member alongside Keith. Shayne, on the other hand, has an abysmal showing, managing to lose both minigames he’s actually involved in by a long margin and inadvertently subjecting his team to a pepper-eating challenge.

“I swear to god if you’re throwing games to help your girlfriend win-“ Joven jeers at him, between rounds, and both Shayne and Courtney quickly turn to glare at him. Something about it makes Courtney feel mildly insulted, although it also sticks in her mind that evidently their new relationship definition had spread to at least most of the cast, because neither of them had directly told him that she knew of.

“I’m definitely not, Courtney certainly doesn’t need my help to be better than me,” Shayne shoots back at him, “and this shit ain’t public, no mentioning it on camera thanks.”

“Alright, alright,” Joven relents, rolling his eyes as they move around and prepare for the next round of minigames.


	4. Chapter 3: Friends Describe

“So, any chance I can follow you somewhere and make you gossip about what went down with Shayne over the weekend this evening?” Olivia corners Courtney as they leave the building late in the afternoon. Most of the cast had left shortly after the Mario Party shoot, only the main group hanging around for the rest of the afternoon.

“Okay, okay, you can just come to my place for a bit I guess,” Courtney answers, with a shrug, “although there’s not a whole lot to gossip about.”

“Is there really nothing to gossip about? I’m guessing you slept together, right?” Olivia jumps straight back into their conversation as she sets herself down on Courtney’s living room couch, having driven behind her back to her place after they left work.

“I mean, depends what you count as gossip. We didn’t sleep together, though,” Courtney confirms, watching Olivia raise her eyebrows.

“Really? That seems… unlike you.”

“Look, we could have,” Courtney admits, “honestly, the whole thing started with us making a bunch of jokes about fantasising about each other – there was context to that, it wasn’t out of the blue – and yeah, that happened, there was some of that vibe there. But like – so, this happened sitting in the back of his Dad’s truck up one of the mountains in a little clearing just off the road where we hung out for a while. It felt kind off for anything much to actually happen there, so we made an intentional decision not to.”

“So there was that sexual context at least – is that what led to you getting together, then?” Olivia pushes again, and Courtney shrugs.

“Yes and no. Basically it was… a lot of jokes, but then we admitted we weren’t actually joking. But deciding to get together wasn’t along those lines, it was much more the emotional/romantic admissions that came after that stuff,” she explains, carefully, not wanting to go into much further detail than she needs to.

“Okay, but do you fantasise about him for real? Because I mean, I know you’ve had a thing for him for a while, but you’ve never mentioned that,” Olivia’s question is almost teasing this time as she twists to sit sideways on the sofa and face Courtney.

“We really going to go there, are we?” Courtney responds, fighting the blush threatening to rise up in her cheeks although knowing it’s already there.

“Yep. Let me be a nosy bitch,” she answers, and Courtney laughs.

“Ugh, fine, yeah…”

She still manages to hold back most of the gritty detail, but she has to admit, she kind of enjoys finally telling Olivia how firmly Shayne has taken space in her mind and heart.

————————————————

Shayne himself is off work the following day with a Goldbergs shoot, and it’s a much quieter day anyway, in contrast to their whole cast shoots the previous day. The morning is largely filled by computer work and a brief Instagram live where Ian runs around annoying everyone he possibly can for a while, and Courtney elects to take an early lunch before a badly timed 1pm pit shoot. Damien appears to make the same decision about early lunch, sliding into the chair across from her in the otherwise-empty break room a couple of minutes after she sits down.

“So, you and Shayne, huh?” he asks her, voice light but relatively quiet. She nods, carefully, not sure what to say. Damien doesn’t continue, though, so she has to find something.

“You about to give me the best friend talk, are you?” she asks him, going for the joke, and he lets out a soft laugh and shakes his head.

“I know I’ve been Shayne’s best friend for ages, but you’re one of my best friends too, Courtney. It’s actually been kind of hard for me to stand back and let you two work it out yourselves,” he admits, and she grins.

“Sorry we made you wait so long.”

“Why did you wait so long? And I mean… I haven’t had a chance to talk to him alone yet, just briefly got the when and how by text, but I get the impression neither of you were exactly upfront and intentional about bringing it up,” Damien pushes, and Courtney nods, pausing for a moment to think.

“I don’t really know why I never did anything. I mean, I know a part of me was always terrified he’d reject me and it’d screw up everything that already existed between us, or that he’d be uncomfortable with me not being entirely straight, or that I just wasn’t as good at relationships as I know he is, but I… yeah. I don’t know,” she answers, feeling her brain dig down further into some of her worries than she would like it to.

“I know for a fact that he seriously admires you for coming out and being open with all that, Court, he doesn’t see it coming into anything between you two at all. I mean, I don’t know if I should tell you, but when you first came out to us he considered pulling back from you for a while because he didn’t want to stand in the way of you, to put it blankly, exploring that part of your identity – but he guessed it might send the wrong message, so he didn’t,” Damien reassures her, and she nods.

“He’s such a sweetheart, sometimes I feel like I’m not as inherently caring as he is and I can’t really… meet that same standard,” she admits, and he quickly shakes his head.

“He thinks the same thing about you. You’re both total saps for each other, it’s why we all incessantly tease you about it.”

“I guess so. I mean, I’m all in with this, I’m not letting any of this stuff get in the way of being totally open and committed to him and he’s absolutely going to know we had this convo because I’m not hiding anything from him, but. I guess it’s what held me back in the past,” she admits, and Damien nods.

“Hey, I don’t blame you, it’s not like I’m out here jumping up to confess to anyone I’m into. This shit is scary and I understand it was high stakes for both of you, he held back for a long time too. He hasn’t yet told me what changed his mind, but I’m guessing it was something big.”

“I mean, I’ll let him tell you when he wants to, but it was certainly a different direction for us.”

“That’s cryptic, I’ll have to bug him about it. But, yeah… I don’t think I need to give you a best friends’ talk. I know you’d never intentionally hurt him, and I trust he’d never intentionally hurt you either, so basically I’m just really goddamn happy you guys are finally doing this, and I’m going to be best man at your wedding, cool?” Damien finishes, his smile turning teasing as Courtney glances out the breakroom windows to see Ian approaching.

“Of course you will be, Dames,” Courtney steals Shayne’s nickname for him, grinning as she tries to shake herself back into work mode, “now, what the hell is the shoot we’re doing after this? Quizzes?”

————————————————

It’s not a video that fits into one of their usual formats, although ‘something for Smosh Pit where there’s a laptop sitting in front of a few of them’ had become more of a common video setup since their move to Mythical. Courtney sits at the centre, in front of the laptop, Ian and Damien sat either side of her. It’s a relatively low-energy premise of a video, doing web quizzes about Smosh that someone had dug up for them, and the shoot is likely to demand very little of them too.

She happily takes the bulk of the intro, glancing down to see the title of the first quiz as she does.

“Who’s your Smosh boyfriend - will we do that one first?” She tacks the question onto the end of her intro, silently praying that she didn’t visibly react to it. She isn’t sure whether she wants to get Shayne when she eventually does that one, or someone else.

They go for a couple of other quizzes first, leaving the boyfriend one to last. Their very first quiz is easy, comprising of three whole questions to give a vague indication of which Smosh member they apparently are.

Damien gets Shayne first, so Courtney chooses to avoid any direct comment when she also does.

“Maybe it’s a best friends quiz!” Ian suggests, when he gets Anthony, and they enthuse on that point for a moment before moving on to their second quiz, about which Smosh girl they are.

“Oh this one is friends describe- so like how do you guys describe me?” Damien points out, halfway through the quiz. Courtney and Ian both offer up ‘nice’ as the correct answer one after the other, Damien accepting.

“Courtney, you’re emotional- especially today, it’s gotta be emotional,” Ian tells her, Damien giving some kind of agreeing noise in response. It confuses her slightly, she doesn’t remember being particularly emotional at any point earlier that day, but she chooses not to ask, instead debating that maybe she should put funny instead.

It doesn’t matter, in the end: it’s a jokey quiz and they all get Shayne dressed up as Brianna Boho in the blonde wig she usually uses. They laugh, and she tries not to roll her eyes too much at how much he’s managing to be in this video despite being elsewhere for the day.

They take a quiz about Smosh itself, next, her and Damien taking the lead with only the occasional assistance from Ian who predictably knows almost all of the answers. Their score is respectable - it would be better if they had listened to her a couple of times she was right, and if she hadn’t clicked the wrong thing once or twice, but they’re close enough.

They’re finally onto the Smosh boyfriends quiz next, and Courtney makes a mental note that for the purposes of whatever happens in the next few minutes, she has to pretend things are as they were last Thursday.

“What would you love most about your boyfriend? I’d go with... being themselves,” Damien starts them off with the first question. Courtney, for her part, glances over the options, immediately drawn to the one with a picture of her actual boyfriend.

“I’ll go with... his humour,” she admits, after a moment, Ian immediately jumping on her response.

“Oh, you, that’s- what you love about your boyfriend? His humour?” he reinforces. She doesn’t miss the present tense and active voice he uses, but she gives a careful yes anyway before his teasing is thankfully interrupted by a rather fake sounding, although apparently real, series of sneezes.

The remainder of the questions point less specifically to any particular person, although her own brain assumes she’s picking Shayne when she chooses ‘just hot’ for the favourite style question. But maybe that’s just her personal bias that marks him as the hot one.

Damien is up first, his answers leading to Keith. It’s not an established ship, so it’s one they can play around with a little before they move on to hers.

It takes an oddly long time to load her answer, and she makes a show of waiting before laughing and leaning down towards the table when Shayne’s face appears as her answer. She can’t not acknowledge it, so she throws half a reference to their ship out in front of her, leaning back to run her fingers through her hair and let her mild discomfort show. She hopes the implication is that she’s uncomfortable with the ship reference and not the fact she’s high key hiding that the quiz was technically accurate.

“Shayne’s just hot,” Ian teases, but she merely laughs, parroting it back to him before quickly moving on to his own answer, which turns out to be Noah.

“This quiz seems to be very accurate,” Ian comments, glancing at Courtney as he does.

“Yes, indeed,” she answers out of habit more than anything else, but she makes the split-second decision to just brush it off and turn to Damien, who is trying to work out his and Keith’s ship name. They settle on the unfortunate sounding ‘Kamien’ after a moment, before transitioning into the outro to end the shoot.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to call you out so much,” Ian tells her after they cut, and she shrugs.

“No more than you usually did when I was technically just friends with him anyway. What was the emotional thing anyway? I mean, yeah I’ll take it, but today?” She queries, the three of them starting to move back towards the office.

“I was actually thinking of yesterday when you wouldn’t stop giving Shayne heart eyes and cuddles all day,” Ian grins, and she feels herself blush in response.

“Oh, whatever. I’m finally dating the guy I’ve been crushing on forever - just let me have this?” She defends herself, glancing sideways to see Damien nodding in acceptance. Ian seems to relent on the teasing, then, letting her return to quiet work at her desk.


	5. Chapter 4: Chill

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mild spoilers lie here, but I'm going to put a warning here for direct mentions of sexual content, but of course, no actual sexual content (next chap!). I am firmly of the view that healthy, open conversations around the issues surrounding sexual activity are something that should be encouraged (and adults can discuss sex in open and mature ways without those discussions being themselves explicit). However, for the sake of allowing people to skip over such content, on this particular site it will be in separate and clearly marked chapters.
> 
> Also: Nothing said in here is genuine medical advice, it is merely conveniently placed plot-driving content. See a health professional to discuss appropriate sexual health measures for your own situation.

“You want to hang out tonight or something?” Courtney texts Shayne, later in the afternoon. She doesn’t expect a quick reply, but he must be killing time on set at his other job, because she gets a reply within a minute.

“Sure, I’ll be home from like 6 – come over whenever?” He suggests in reply, and she sends a thumbs up and a heart in response, not feeling the need to actually type any words.

“Hey,” Shayne greets her softly when she knocks at her door a little while after six. She steps inside when he gestures for her to do so, following him to sit down on his couch. He immediately places his arm around her shoulders and she takes the opportunity to cuddle up to his side, head resting comfortable atop his shoulder.

“Hey,” she answers, finally, and he laughs.

“How you?”

“Eh, alright, pretty quiet day at work and I’m in a pretty low key mood now too,” she answers, “you? How was work?”

“It was decent, a lot of waiting around not doing much but I got some study in amongst it all, so that’s something, I guess. I’m kinda up for a quiet night with you, I think.”

“Yeah,” she replies, agreeing, and they fall into a comfortable silence, until there’s a knock at the door.

“I ordered food, hope Thai is cool with you?” Shayne tells her, reluctantly pulling away from her and standing up to collect the order from the door.

“Sounds good,” Courtney gives her approval, watching as he leans against the door to hold it open while he takes the food and tips the delivery driver. She doesn’t move, and Shayne returns to the couch beside her with the food, pulling out her favourite and handing it over as he takes his own usual chicken Pad Thai.

“There ya go,” he tells her.

“Thanks babe,” she answers, liking the way the pet name rolls naturally off her tongue. The sudden smell of the food makes Courtney realise how damn hungry she is, and they both quickly dig into their dinners, conversation drifting freely between their work days and a TV show they’d both been watching on Netflix over the last week or so.

Courtney offers to clean up the rubbish after they finish, packing it back into the takeaway bag and sitting it up beside his kitchen bin to go out when appropriate. She grabs a glass of water for each of them as she does, reaching up into his kitchen cupboard to grab a couple of glasses and filling them from the pitcher she knows he keeps in his fridge.

She’s been here a few times before.

“You want to play a game or watch something or whatever?” Shayne asks, when she returns, quickly thanking her for the water when she does.

“Hmmm, not sure,” Courtney muses noncommittally as she settles back against his side, glancing around the room for a moment.

“Or we could just chill,” Shayne offers an alternative, and she grins.

“Chill in what sense of the word?”

“Okay, I didn’t mean it like that,” Shayne laughs, “but I mean, whatever happens is cool.”

“Second date good enough for you?” she teases him in return, watching as he blushes and shrugs.

“It feels like calling this a second date is inaccurate, even if it’s technically true. I wonder what our for real first date was?” he muses, twisting the conversation in a different direction.

“I’m guessing probably the first time we hung out alone after we were both single last year,” Courtney admits, letting him take the topic change.

“Yeah, probably true. I don’t mean to like… dodge the sex topic, by the way, I just… a little awkward about all that,” he shrugs, “and I think we need to talk about like… consent and protection things before we do, not just jump into whatever but- I’m not good at that.”

“It still amazes me that you are so awkward about sexual stuff – especially given that conversation we had on Friday night – but no, I know, it’s fine baby,” she reassures him, “but yeah, do you want to have those conversations or do you want to wait? I don’t mind at all if you want to wait, that’s fine.”

“No, I don’t really want to wait,” Shayne admits, “but I like… I’m pro-safe sex, and I don’t currently own any condoms because I just kind of stopped having them when I admitted there was no way I wanted to hook up with anyone that wasn’t you, and I didn’t think hooking up with you was going to happen. So, like, unless you have any or there’s an alternative thing…”

“It’s been a while since I’ve carried any too, I kind of… post-coming out, convinced myself I only wanted to hook up with chicks. Turns out I didn’t want to do that either, but,” Courtney shrugs, “I have one of the long-term birth control things, implanon, so from the contraception point of view we’re good. They’re as effective as condoms. For the STI side of it – I haven’t slept with anyone since last check gave me the all clear. So, as long as you’re good… I’d be okay with not using condoms.”

“Yeah, I had a check relatively recently and all good too,” Shayne nods, “I’d be okay with that too, given all that. But like, if you change your mind, that’s fine too.”

“Mmhm. You too, dude,” she confirms, before rolling her eyes at her own statement, “I need to stop calling you dude, it’s the least sexy thing ever.”

“I’m not going to stop calling you stupid,” he retorts, seeming to immediately shake off his earlier awkwardness and grin at her. She laughs, semi-aggressively poking his shoulder before twisting around to push herself closer to him.

“Oh, don’t worry, I’d be offended if you stopped insulting me and you’re sure as shit still getting it,” she reminds him, “just, I definitely taught myself to call you dude to try and tone down any hints about how much I love you and how fucking hot I think you are.”

“Of course you did,” he laughs, “y’know, we gotta shoot some try not to laugh stuff soon – how d’you think you’ll go with me being shirtless on camera now? Any change?”

“Oh, god, I hadn’t thought of that,” she laughs, “no idea whether it will be any different…”

“I mean, I’ll keep my shirt on as much as possible if you’d like,” he jokes, but she very quickly shakes her head.

“Nope. Please, don’t leave it on for my sake, I’d hate to inconvenience you,” her tone is full of sarcasm, before she intentionally turns a little sultry, “I’d prefer if we just tried it out off-camera before then so I know, y’know.”

“I could arrange that,” he grins, “also, yes, you can touch me,” he adds, noticing her hand hovering an inch away from his chest. She doesn’t say anything in response, but her hand runs down his stomach before sliding underneath his shirt and moving back up to press against his chest as she leans forward and presses their lips together. She can feel the steady, excited beating of his heart where she rests her hand and paired with the occasional ripple of his pectoral muscles as they kiss, it’s way hotter than it has any right to be.

“You can touch me too,” she mumbles, barely breaking their kiss to do so, sometime later. It’s evidently the sign he was waiting for, because he very quickly slides both his hands under the back of her own shirt, one staying still on her lower back while the other travels up to hold behind her shoulder, inadvertently lifting her shirt up in the process. Their kisses grow forever hotter, deeper, and more impassioned, Courtney eventually finding the nerve to shift both her hands to hold the base of his shirt, asking a silent question.

“Yeah,” he murmurs, pulling away ever so slightly to give his assent, tone turning cautious as she pulls his shirt up and over his head, “is this happening? I absolutely don’t mind if we just make out a bit or if we do more but – I just want to be clear what you want.”

“I would like it to happen, if you’re cool with that too,” Courtney answers, guiding his hands to the base of her own shirt in a blatant hint.

“Very cool with it,” he answers, finally lifting upwards and pulling her shirt over her head, “but tell me to stop at any point and I will.”

“You too, baby,” she affirms, and he nods, seeming to spend a second making a decision before carefully gripping her shoulders and lifting her off his lap.

“Bedroom?” he queries, falling back into a series of intense kisses with her as they gradually make their way through the apartment and into his bedroom. He ends up guiding her gently to lie back on his bed, holding himself up by his arms on either side of her head as he hovers over her. “So, I heard you had a certain fantasy…” he starts, and she gives a breathless laugh as she reaches up to pull him down against her, bringing their lips together again.


	6. Chapter 4 Part 2: EXPLICIT CONTENT (Optional Scene)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This scene sits after Chapter 4. It is sexually explicit. You do not need to read this content to understand the main story, it is simply additional content for those that choose to read it.
> 
> Also, full disclosure, the author is a lesbian so if the straight sex is full of bad tropes it's the straight sex in media's fault because that is all the author knows about straight sex.
> 
> On to the smut!

She knows she isn’t strong enough to truly pull him down like that, and he’s still holding himself up slightly so his full weight isn’t pressing down on her, but she likes that he let her do it anyway.

She lets her hands start wandering around his back, feeling his muscles move and flex as he slowly shifts his kisses from her mouth, across her cheek and down to her jaw before he progresses down her neck. She’s at least slightly convinced she needs to stay quiet because she knows his apartment walls are thin as shit, but she lets herself gasp softly when she feels his teeth ever so gently graze against her collarbone and tries to file a mental note to remember the noise thing a little later on.

“No marks, I’m low on concealer,” she tells him, a thought popping into her mind, and he openly laughs in response.

“Okay, not this time, promise,” he reassures her a moment later, pulling himself up on his hands again and rotating slightly so he is only lying half on her, half on the bed, “can I?”

His hands move around behind her back, searching for the clasp on her bra, giving her the rest of the unspoken content of his sentence. She nods, pulling herself away from the bed as much as she can manage while still lying down to give him room. He fumbles, though, letting out a frustrated huff when his fingers slip off the clasp for the third time.

“Hey, it’s not like I can undo it one-handed, and I have like fifteen years’ practice,” she reassures him, and somehow it must help, because she feels him successfully pull the clasp apart a moment later. He laughs lightly at himself in response, smiling sweetly at her as he moves his hands up to the straps to pull them down off her shoulders. She helps him the rest of the way, pulling it off and tossing it across the room. She’ll worry about it later.

His eyes don’t leave hers but his hand moves, resting first just below the base of her ribcage before it starts sliding up towards her left breast. He pauses again, searching her eyes momentarily for any sense of hesitation, before finally cupping her breast gently in his hand. His thumb stretches upwards to brush against her nipple a moment later and it spurs her on to pull him down into a kiss again. For her part, she lets one of her own hands travel down and into his back pocket, gripping his ass and pushing with just enough pressure to suggest, but not force, him to push his hips against her own. She feels rather than hears his vocal response as a rush of air against her mouth, although she is very quickly distracted as she feels his erection press against her through his jeans at the same time as he lightly pinches at her nipple. She’s pretty sure she moans for real, this time, although her main thought process leads her away from analysing her own reaction to instead place her other hand between their bodies at his button.

“That can’t be comfortable,” she mumbles, as a half-hearted explanation when she feels him react with a slightly rougher kiss, halfway off the side off her mouth.

“It’s not,” he responds, lifting himself up slightly again to give her more room to work as she pops the button open and pulls his zipper down.

“Why jeans?” She huffs, in feigned annoyance, when it takes both of their participation and a good thirty seconds’ active work to actually get them off his legs. She guesses he could’ve just stood up to take them off, but she doesn’t particularly want to lose any of his body weight pressed against her, and he has no desire to move, either.

“I don’t know,” he answers, reluctantly rolling further off her so he can pull them off and let them fall on the floor with the rest of their already-discarded clothes. She expects him to move back on top of her, but instead he shifts downwards, lips trailing from her collarbone down to her breasts and sucking lightly as he goes. She can’t do anything but tangle her fingers loosely into his hair, holding him in place as she bites her lip and squeezes her eyes closed, everything but the feeling of Shayne’s lips on her naked chest falling away from her consciousness.

“Can I take yours off?” he asks directly when he shifts even further down the bed to kiss across her stomach just above her waistband.

“Yeah. Please,” she murmurs, and this time is much quicker, Shayne pulling her shorts down with ease and leaving them to join his jeans on the floor. “Those too?” Courtney adds, cautiously, and it makes him pause in surprise for half a second. It still baffles him just a little that the girl he’s been infatuated with for so long actually, genuinely, wants him. He’s not interested in denying her request, though, and he slides his fingers under each side of her waistband to pull her underwear down, not able to resist staring at her lying there, naked, for _him_ , after he does so.

“You’re so beautiful,” he breathes, “I know it’s cliché and cheesy but I just- you are so unbelievably gorgeous and sexy and part of me can’t believe this is happening.”

“I can’t believe it either,” Courtney mumbles, staring down to meet his eyes with a sweet smile, “and you keep running away before I can really ogle you as much as I want to but god you’re hot.”

“I love you,” he responds, almost laughing in response to her statement, pressing a kiss to the inside of her hip as he leans back down, face-level with her crotch. He sees her realise what he plans to do, sees the surprise on her face quickly morph into excitement and arousal as she fights to keep her eyes open, staring down at him. He glances down momentarily to orient himself before looking back up, eyes staring straight at her as he presses a kiss to the outside of her labia. Her eyes slam shut, then, and she tilts her head back as her hands grip tighter in his hair. It spurs him on, and he doesn’t have a whole lot of experience at doing this, but he desperately wants to do it for her. He presses lightly at the inside of her thighs, prompting her to spread her legs a little wider, giving him more room to move. He uses the same hand to separate her lips, taking a small, hopefully hidden, deep breath to calm his nerves before he extends his tongue and licks gently but purposefully from the base of her labia, across her vagina and up to her clit. She tastes better than he could have ever fathomed, and it makes it both easier and harder to ignore his own arousal, blatantly evident in his erection straining borderline-painfully against his boxers.

“God you’re perfect,” she encourages him as he starts to create a pattern, tongue moving firmly but carefully across and around her clit. He brings a hand almost absentmindedly to her vagina, but he pauses, feeling like he needs to ask before he enters her but not intending to move his mouth any time soon. She must know his dilemma, somehow, reaching down and bumping her own hand against his to encourage him, and he responds by slowly sliding a finger inside her, the warmth and wetness making him gasp and stutter his pattern against her clit. He adds a second finger after a moment, slowly stroking into her in time with the licks he’s placing against her clit. He feels her getting closer, her leg hooking up onto his back and her hands locking into his hair to hold him close. He can hear soft sounds coming from her above him, but they’re muffled, and he glances upwards quickly as best he can to see her pressing the corner of his pillow against her mouth.

Under any other circumstances he’d probably encourage her to not be quiet, but his mouth is otherwise occupied, and he has no interest in stopping just yet. He hears her clear response when she cums moments later, and she can feel her vagina contracting and fluttering around his fingers as he continues to slowly slide them into her. He shifts away from her clit after a moment, though, knowing well enough it will be too sensitive for him touching it to be enjoyable for a few moments.

“Get up here,” Courtney requests, out of breath, a few moments later. He can see her chest moving heavily as she works to regain her breath, pushing the pillow away from her own face as she reaches for him. He lets his full weight settle on top of her for the first time, immediately becoming acutely aware of how turned on he is. She evidently realises too, grinning and moving one hand down to slip under the edge of his waistband as the other pulls him into a kiss.

“Can I touch you?” she asks, delicately, a few moments later. He nods, possibly a little too enthusiastically, in response, and she grins, sliding her hand around to the front of his boxers and twisting her wrist as she shifts further down to slide her hand along his dick. He has to actively focus on not coming then and there, feeling her thumb rub across his head.

“Do you want me to take them off?” He asks, and she confirms, reluctantly letting go of him so he can very briefly stand off the side of the bed and pull his boxers down and step out of them, not wanting a repeat of the jeans scenario. He’s about to rush back on top of her until he remembers her earlier comment and pauses, watching her gaze run shamelessly over him, landing firmly at his dick.

“Holy shit I want you inside me,” she murmurs, after a moment, reaching out towards him. He takes the hint and lays back down on the bed, although he returns to holding himself raised above her, letting his penis gently rub against her outer labia, intentionally avoiding getting any closer. He’s teasing himself as much as her, but he has very rapidly remembered what fantasy of hers – and his – he had set out to fulfill, and he was more than happy to return to it.

She reaches down as if to guide him into place, and he takes the opportunity for what it is, shifting his weight onto one arm and moving the other to grab her hands in his and stop them moving any further. He gives her a moment to stop him if she wants to, but he watches recognition flash across her face closely followed by hunger, and she doesn’t move an inch, nodding ever so slightly before he pushes her hands back up above her head to pin them against the mattress. She feigns resistance for a moment, before stopping, falling back down into the mattress and giving herself up to him. It’s symbolic as much as anything – he knows she’ll stop him if she wants to anyway, and his hold on her is loose enough she could easily move if she chose to – but still makes his own breathing quicken.

“Patience, darling,” he murmurs, softly, leaning down to brush the slightest kiss against the corner of her mouth.

“Do I need to beg?” She asks, somewhere between serious and teasing.

“I don’t think I would survive if you did,” he admits, continuing to grind slowly against her.

“Please, baby,” she murmurs, a glint in her eye, “please fuck me.”

“God,” he groans, “Okay. Okay, baby.”

He shifts his own free hand down, guiding the tip of his penis to rest against her entrance.

“Are you sure? Completely sure?” He asks, softly, and she nods quickly. It’s all he needs to finally let himself push into her, slowly at first, feeling himself be pulled and held in as she clenches around him, barely able to keep from crying out.

“God, fuck,” Courtney can’t find it in herself to make full sentences anymore, the feeling of Shayne finally buried inside her more than she has ever felt before. He pauses for a moment, and she’s glad. It gives her a moment to adjust – it’s not painful, per se, but he’s not small by any means and it’s been a while – and a moment to psychologically prepare for the overwhelming pleasure she knows is to come.

Shayne starts moving slowly, at first, a few gentle and experimental strokes in and out of her to test the waters. He feels her flex against his hands still holding hers above her head, and it pushes him to move more decidedly, hard thrusts into her matched by slow shifts backwards. He shifts his angle a few times until he feels her react with renewed intensity, now clearly hitting her g spot, settling into a clear pattern. He lets go of her hands after a moment, and she quickly moves to dig her nails into his back. He shifts to sit up ever so slightly, allowing him a better angle to thrust inside her from, while also freeing up room for his own hand to return to firmly but delicately rub against her clit.

“Court, baby, you feel so good,” he mumbles, and it causes her to groan loudly. Her wide grin makes it even harder to fight the groans bubbling up in his own throat, a tiny bit too self-conscious to let everything out the first time. “I’m not going to last much longer,” he tells her, a moment later, gaze meeting hers of intense desire.

“Neither, can you hold out just a little longer? Cum with me – in me?” She requests, and he nods. She pulls him back down to meet her lips and only a moment later he feels her walls clench tightly around him at the same time he lets go, his thrusts coming to a stop as his dick pulses inside her. They both let out some variation of a moan, although he is quietly thankful for his own embarrassment that his is at least partially muffled into her mouth. Courtney continues to shudder slightly through her own orgasms as Shayne gently shifts inside her, pausing for a moment longer to relish in her warmth before he reluctantly lets his softening dick slip out of her. She gasps as he exits, squeezing her eyes shut for a moment and holding her breath before they quickly snap open and meet Shayne’s again, and he’s not sure he’s ever felt as content as he does right now, basking in their afterglow as she looks at him with utter adoration.


	7. Chapter 5: Nice Shirt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mild sexual references again in this chapter (but mostly fluff)

“That was the hottest thing ever,” Courtney breaks their calm silence, lying in bed beside him some time later, “I kind of hate that biology means I gotta put clothes on and go pee.”

“It was, but yes, go do that. And then come back and cuddle?” he answers, shifting to give her space to move off the bed. He watches shamelessly as she stretches slightly when she stands up, but he knows he’s three seconds away from getting hard again so he forces his gaze to drift elsewhere as she locates and throws on a shirt of his and her underwear.

“You can look, you know, I don’t mind in the slightest,” she reminds him as she quickly glances in the mirror to see him lying back on the bed with eyes down.

“I know, but I’m trying to calm myself down over here, not get hard again,” he admits, and she laughs, causing him to look up.

“Okay. I’ll be back in a sec, I want cuddles too,” she tells him, quickly stepping out of the room and into his bathroom. She presses her hand against her face for a moment, trying to keep her wide smile under control. She has never felt so fulfilled before in her life. Part of her wishes one of her female friends was around for her to metaphorically squeal at about how unbelievingly, mind-blowingly good it was, but she figures she can just do the same to Shayne himself, and she hopes, get to fall asleep beside him and wake up beside him in the morning. She kinda wants to keep this one between just them, anyway.

“So, you going to crash here?” Shayne asks, the moment she steps back into the room. He’s put his boxers back on, but nothing else, and is leaning back against the head of his bed, legs half-crossed under himself, “I kinda want you to. Don’t really want to sleep alone after that.”

“Definitely staying,” Courtney answers, shifting back up onto the bed beside him and poking him in the thigh with her finger to prompt him to move to allow her to pull back the covers. It prompts him to climb under with her, Courtney opening her arms and letting him curl up against her chest for once.

————————————————

“Shit, did I wake you?” is the first thing Courtney hears the next morning. She slowly shifts around to face her boyfriend, his arms still loosely wrapped around her. She knows it’s way earlier than she’d usually be up, and they stayed awake for hours last night talking about absolutely nothing, but she also knows she - somehow - woke of her own accord.

“No, my body just decided to be early today, I guess,” she muses, leaning across to place a quick kiss on his lips. She doesn’t push it any further, vaguely recalling that neither of them thought to go and brush their teeth the previous night, but she quite contentedly moves to nuzzle against his neck.

“I’m sure it’s my early riser influence somehow, so I’m still going to apologise,” he tells her, arms pulling tighter around her as he does.

“Or you could just hold me. I like this way more than a needless apology.”

“What if my apology comes in the form of making you a coffee?” He asks, and she pauses as if to consider it.

“Yeah, I’ll accept that. Later. Or I guess not too much later, I gotta go by my place and get clothes so we don’t get mercilessly teased today,” Courtney sighs, softly, her mind focusing on the feeling of Shayne’s thumb stroking repetitively across her shoulder blade through his shirt which she ended up falling asleep in. They fall into a comfortable silence for a while, before he breaks it with his quiet musing.

“You could always steal my clothes then we can stay here longer,” he suggests, and she hums in consideration, pressing herself closer into his own shirtless torso as she does so.

“I have a feeling that would end even worse for us than me turning up in the same clothes as yesterday,” she comments, eventually, “and as much as I truly don’t care, I know you do.”

“Look- yeah,” he admits, and she pulls away from him slightly to watch him screw up his face in feigned discomfort, “I’m still waiting for whenever Damien pries about how we got together and I have to admit I told you about the fantasising stuff.”

“You talk to him about that kinda stuff?” Courtney asks, interested, and Shayne shrugs as best he can in their position.

“He’s known I’m into you for quite a while, and like, the detail is assumed I guess, but I haven’t ever straight-up told him I actively thought about you like that,” he explains.

They finally clamber out of bed a few minutes later, and Courtney checks her phone where she left it in his living area, noticing it is just on 8am.

“As much as I don’t want to leave – I think I’m going to head back to mine so I can grab a shower and change before I head in, but I’ll see you at work in a little while?” she tells him, Shayne wandering out behind her and pulling her into a hug.

“Sure. You gonna give my shirt back?”

“Nope. How clean is this one?” she asks, lifting it up to sniff it, “smells clean.”

“Yeah, I think I wore it like once- why? You going to wear it?”

“Maybe,” she grins, although she owns a bunch of oversized mens shirts anyway so it’s not completely out of character for her outfit choices.

“Okay, okay- just, don’t get coffee on the way in, mmkay?” he requests, and she tilts her head.

“You better be getting me coffee then, you know I can’t start a workday without it.”

————————————————

“Morning, Court,” Damien greets her when she steps into the office a little while after nine.

“Hey hey Damien,” she answers him with a smile, walking across to her desk not far from his to set her stuff down.

“Nice shirt,” Damien adds, under his breath, pushing his own chair out to shift around Shayne’s spot between them and closer to her.

“Thanks?” she laughs, trying to brush off his comment, but when she glances over at him she sees a pointedly raised eyebrow.

“Oh, just thought I recognised it since it’s definitely Shayne’s,” he adds, and she laughs.

“And? Wouldn’t be the first time I’ve stolen a shirt from him to top up my own oversized shirts collection, did that even before we got together,” she muses.

“Okay, okay, I’ll stop being nosy – just, the implication is a little more pointed now you are together,” Damien lets up on her, before shifting back to his own desk.

Shayne chooses that moment to arrive in the office himself, balancing two Starbucks cups in one hand and his laptop and some papers in the other.

“Morning Dames, hi Court,” he greets both of them as he sets his things down on his desk between theirs, before shifting one of the starbucks cups to his other hand and setting it down beside Courtney, “got your coffee.”

“Thanks, babe,” she answers lightly, immediately reaching for it to drink.

Damien gives them a teasing glance in response, but he doesn’t say anything else until later that day.

“I’m happy to do the lunch run,” Shayne offers, when a few of them decide to order in from the same place.

“I’ll come with you, need to stretch my legs a bit,” Damien adds quickly, and after the order is placed at a nearby Mexican place by phone, they wander out towards Shayne’s car to drive over and pick it up.

“Need to stretch your legs by driving somewhere, really?” Shayne laughs when they step out into the car park behind the building, and Damien just grins.

“Haven’t had any private time to grill you yet over your new relationship my guy and my desire to do so got ever more urgent when she turned up this morning wearing one of your shirts,” he teases, “you have a nice night with her last night?”

“Asshole. But… yeah, it was nice, just had a relaxing, quiet night together. First time we’ve actually caught up alone since Friday,” he responds, as they climb into his car.

“So what actually happened Friday? You said you had a conversation, but…” Damien trails off as they start driving out of the parking lot. Shayne pauses, hesitating for a minute as he decides how much to let on.

“I was in my Dad’s truck, and after we had dinner we got milkshakes and went up one of the mountains to that spot I’ve told you about just to hang out. She’d made some joke the day before when I suggested hanging out about like- she joked that she’d cum if we got milkshakes. And you know us, we all make jokes like that, but when we were sitting up there in the back of the truck I made another joke playing off it and we just ran with it and ended up full on talking about sleeping together and how protective we are of each other, and then I had a freak out and took us into another conversation where we both admitted we weren’t actually joking, and also on top of the sexual stuff we’re in love with each other so… yeah. Got together,” he explains, going with a relatively long version, knowing he can trust Damien to keep it quiet.

“Woah, sex-shy Shayne actually went there? I’m guessing after all that you ended up in someone’s bed then?” he raises an eyebrow, Shayne briefly glancing across at him before turning back to focus on the road.

“I was surprised I went there too. But, no, we intentionally didn’t sleep together on Friday,” he confirms, with half an awkward nod. He pulls into a parking spot out the front of the Mexican place, then, effectively ending their conversation as they step out of the car and go to collect the food.

“So, not Friday, but last night? I mean, I’ll stop prying if you want, if you’d prefer not to say anything please take that option, we don’t have to talk about it,” Damien asks when they get back in the car, immediately reassuring him, and Shayne smiles. Sometimes he forgets how courteous his best friend is. 

“Don’t tell a soul, please, we don’t want everyone joking about it-“ Shayne starts, Damien nodding his affirmation before Shayne turns back to focus on the road as he pulls out of the parking space, “yeah, we slept together, and I’m not going into any detail but- it was mind-blowingly good. Everything hit different because it was with her.”

“No detail is fine with me. I guess it makes sense it was different with her, yeah? This isn’t just you guys having fun, is it?” Damien responds, his tone gentler than it was before.

“Yeah, it does make sense. Courtney’s special in the best way possible- and yeah, this isn’t just… another relationship. This is a big thing,” he knows his tone turns soft and loving when he says it and he waits for the teasing, but it doesn’t come.

“You’re going to open yourself up to teasing from everyone if you can’t stop smiling like that,” he answers, instead, and Shayne laughs.

“Don’t pretend I haven’t been obviously giving her way more attention and laughing too much at her jokes and smiling whenever she touches me forever.”

“True, true- you do all that intentionally?”

“No, not intentionally, I just genuinely react like that around her. I feel so goddamn happy around her. Even more so now, it’s just… I don’t know how to describe it, and I know at the moment I’m in some kind of honeymoon period thing just trying to get my head around it all, but give it a few weeks and I think I’ll have better words to make sense of how great this all is,” Shayne admits, shrugging it off as Damien nods.

“I get it, I promise I won’t bug you too much about it but always up for a chat if you want one,” Damien tells him in response, as they arrive back at the office, Shayne merely nodding and thanking him before they head inside with all their food.


	8. Chapter 6: New Tactic

“Want to come hang out?” The sound of his text tone the following Sunday afternoon was jarring, Shayne having entirely lost himself in the book he was reading, but coming from his girlfriend it was not unwelcome. Girlfriend - it still felt so new. It was new, technically, given that night sitting in the hills in the back of the truck was only nine days ago.

“Absolutely - I’ll be there in thirty xx” his response was quick, and he relished his newfound ability to sign off with the kisses he had always wanted to use with her. She deserved to know how much she was loved. 

He went to grab his keys and head straight for the car, but he paused at his front door. Hang out - what exactly did that mean, at 2pm on a Sunday? He was pretty sure it wasn’t a booty call, given her directness around that kind of thing the previous Tuesday. But still... even before they were dating, any afternoon hangout usually led to sleeping over and he was sure that wasn’t going to change now they were – again, especially after her staying over at his place Tuesday night. If anything, he was even more tempted to straight up ask if he could stay over so he could cuddle her all night, whether they slept together again or not. 

With that in mind, Shayne turned back to his apartment and grabbed a backpack that was sitting around on the floor. He quickly grabbed a change of clothes, his toothbrush and his gym clothes – just in case, given he’d missed his workout that morning, and he knew from past experience that the gym near Courtney’s place was actually better than the one he used near his own. Maybe she’d even join him at the gym tomorrow.

He moved quickly out of his apartment, locking the door behind himself and striding over to his car. The drive between their apartments wasn’t horrifically long, but it was LA and he needed to use a freeway for a little bit, so the timing was wildly unpredictable - even on a Sunday afternoon. Shayne tapped an impatient rhythm on the steering wheel as he rolled along the freeway, traffic heavy as ever, glancing sideways to the clock on his stereo system. It had already been the thirty minutes he told Courtney he’d be there in and his plan to stop by somewhere else on the way was ruined. 

“Next time,” he muttered to himself when he finally exited the freeway just beside the florist he was thinking of, continuing to drive the five minutes further to Courtney’s, pulling into a free visitor park not far from her apartment. 

He felt awkward suddenly, stepping out of the car, holding the backpack by its top strap in one hand and pressing the lock for his car with the other. Courtney’s apartment complex was older than his own, but the apartments were larger, and he could hear the sound of children playing in some of the courtyards. He wasn’t usually opposed to that kind of noise, but it grated on his ears as he ambled across the car park towards the stairwell up to Courtney’s door. 

“Calm the fuck down Shayne, she wasn’t this awkward at your place,” he mumbled to himself under his breath, pausing in front of her door for a moment before raising a hand to knock.

“Hey Shayney,” Courtney greeted him with a sweet smile, reaching for his free hand and almost dragging him inside, although he moved willingly. 

“Hey Court,” his response betrayed the hint of awkwardness he still felt, subtly leaning his bag against the side of her couch as she locked the door. 

“What’s up?” she pries, moving closer to him and gesturing for him to sit on the couch with her. For his part, he fights the awkwardness and presses himself against her side, arm relaxing around her shoulders. 

“I don’t know. Sorry I’m late, traffic,” he replies, shrugging.

“That’s chill. What’s in the bag?” She asks, and he responds with half a laugh.

“I figured there’s a good chance you’ll ask me to stay over and I may as well get ready here since you’re closer to work, so...” he trails off, “not that it matters if you don’t want me to like-“

“Shayne,” she says his name, sternly, “please stop worrying. You always stay over when you come hang out here. That isn’t going to change. All that will change is that you’re sleeping in my bed, not on the couch,” Courtney tells him, and he nods in acknowledgement.

“I don’t know why but I just got hit by a whole lot of unexplained awkwardness on the drive over. I dunno. What do you want to do?”

“Beat your ass on something switch co-op. You can pick the game, though?” She suggests, and he grins, shifting away from her only to crouch in front of her TV cabinet and choose the game. He goes with Smash Bro’s, of course. 

“When did you get this? I don’t remember that being here last time,” he muses as he shifts back to the couch and hands her the other controller.

“Kari remembered she doesn’t like gaming and ditched all her switch stuff on me when she sold her console,” she explains, scrolling through the character select.

Courtney starts with a clear winning streak, Shayne grumbling in frustrating as he loses yet another.

“Told you I’d beat your ass,” Courtney teases, lightly.

“Yeah well I’ll-“ Shayne starts, stopping without coming up with where to take his response.

“Comeback as bad as your game,” she shoots back when he doesn’t continue, and he laughs, admitting verbal defeat.

He picks his favourite button-masher character for this next round, an idea forming in his mind. He’s keeping more on par with Courtney’s score this time, but she’s still slightly ahead halfway through the match. Shayne shifts imperceptibly closer with each hit against each other on screen until he’s back pressed against her side.

“What are you doing?” She asks, gaze flicking to him for a moment as she continues to aggressively push at her controller. She’s surprised to see Shayne looking straight at her, mashing away at his controller without looking. Annoyingly, she still isn’t beating him quite as much as previously. 

“Trying a new tactic,” he responds, leaning towards her and placing a firm kiss on her cheek, followed by one that hits the corner of her mouth, and then her jaw.

“Asshole,” she mutters, throwing her controller aside as she reaches up to place a hand on each cheek, directing him to kiss her square on the mouth.

He lets his own controller fall to his side as they kiss, his hand running up her neck to slide into her hair and hold the back of her head. She grazes her teeth across his lip and he lets out an appreciative murmur in response, his tongue running across the join of her lips as a request to enter which she gladly accepts. 

“I still won,” she murmurs, pulling away some time later, pressing a series of further kisses to his lips before twisting back to gesture at the tv. Sure enough, the results screen is still sitting there, Courtney’s win clear.

“Dammit. Well, I guess I won’t use that tactic again,” he laughs. 

“Oh no, please do, I really liked it,” she answers, exiting out to the switch home page and flicking off the TV before she twists sideways on the couch, facing him.

“Wouldn’t it be great if that was how we go public, if we ever do? In the middle of competing on the games channel we just start making out?” He laughs at his own suggestion. 

“Oh, that’s totally how we should do it. Or a try not to laugh, you say something dirty and watch me spit the water out so I can kiss you,” Courtney shoots back, and he laughs. 

“Your suggestion is much hornier but that’s fine with me.”

“I know you’re secretly horny AF, boy, your dick has made it pretty obvious whenever I’m on your lap,” she teases, and he just laughs.

“I love you,” he presses a kiss to her cheek.

“I love you too,” she answers, voice softer as she snuggles up to his side again, legs thrown over his lap. “What are we going to do about public stuff?”

“At least for a while, until we settle into what being together looks like for us in our personal lives and at work and whatever at least, I think we need to keep it quiet. I know we’re starting from a strong base already, but I want to make sure everything is super secure before we open ourselves up to whatever pressure that brings,” Shayne admits, Courtney murmuring in agreement as he talks.

“We need to be clear with everyone we do tell that it’s not an entirely open thing yet. But yeah, I agree, we need to hold back for a while, and I don’t think we can put a time on how long that will be because it will depend on how things progress,” she suggests.

“Yeah, exactly. But I... do think, eventually, I’ll want to go public. I love you so much and I don’t want to have to ever hide that when there isn’t a really good reason to.”

“Yeah, I understand that. I’m the same. One day we’ll tell them. Until then... what’s the deal with shooting? Do we keep letting them always make us a couple in sketches and getting all touchy and flirty in pit or games stuff?” She wonders, aloud. 

“I think people will notice if anything changes, so yes, I think we need to keep everything the same as much as possible. I’m killing that we suck at dating show though. Too much.”

“Oh, god, yes. It’s wrong anyway - I knew even before we got together that you’d be the best boyfriend ever because you’re so caring and romantic and all that,” Courtney murmurs, “kinda worried that I do actually suck at dating though.”

“You certainly don’t so far,” Shayne grins, before turning serious, “I don’t think you need to worry about that, really. You’re always looking out for me, you’re so sweet and caring all the time and- more so to me than anyone else, yeah, that’s always been the case and maybe I should’ve realised my feelings were not unrequited but- you’re not bad at dating. We’re both going to be fantastic at this because we want to be, okay?”

“Yeah,” Courtney murmurs simply, voice a little brighter as she nuzzles her face into the crook of his neck. “Can we plan an actual date that we label as such later this week so I can go all out with the sweetness?”

“Of course. Thursday?”

“Thursday. We’ll sort out the details later.”

“Perfect. Want another game?”

“No, I don’t think so. I dunno what I want to do, it’s kinda why I invited you over here. What were you doing with yourself before I interrupted?” She pushes, shifting away slightly to settle into a more comfortable position curled against his side.

“Reading,” he answers.

“Nerd,” her response is entirely predictable, and he laughs. “What were you reading?”

They settle into relaxed conversation, flowing freely as it always does. Courtney throws some TV show they’ve already watched together on in the background twenty minutes in, largely to block out the sound of her neighbour screaming into her phone about something or other.

“What do we want to get for dinner?” Courtney asks, a few hours later, lying comfortably on the floor reading over a script she was meant to finish before the end of the last week as Shayne flicks through a film history book she had sitting in her bookcase.

“I’ve been craving dumplings. Anywhere around here do good dumplings?” He responds, with a shrug, “or whatever you feel like is good too.”

“No, dumplings sounds great. I’ll have a look,” she reluctantly rolls over to sit up, reaching over to where her phone is sitting on her coffee table and flicking to open her various delivery apps. “Okay, yeah, there’s a place that looks good on ubereats. You go for fried usually, yeah?” she confirms, looking back up at him.

“Yeah, fried. Can you make sure there’s some shrimp ones in there?”

“Yeah, I was thinking half pork half shrimp?”

“Perfect.”

“Cool, I’ll order for delivery in a bit.”


	9. Chapter 7: Eyelash Curler

“Thank fucking god for food delivery, honestly,” Shayne muses, shifting the book he is reading off the couch onto the coffee table and fidgeting around for a moment until he’s leaning against the arm of the couch, facing where Courtney is sitting on the floor.

“Yeah, it certainly fuels my laziness,” Courtney responds, getting up off the floor and walking over towards her kitchen.

“Talking of laziness, I will probably get up early tomorrow and go to the gym around the corner, you up for that?” Shayne calls after her, and she rocks her head to each side a couple of times in thought as she reaches into her fridge to grab a couple of beers.

“Maybe. I’ll see how I feel in the morning. Kinda off today,” she admits, walking back out and holding a beer out for him.

“Thanks baby. Off how?” he queries, shifting around to give her space to sit beside him on the couch again as he takes a sip of the handed beer.

“I don’t know whether it’s more or less weird to tell you about my menstrual bullshit now,” she shrugs, leaning against him. “I don’t exactly know why I haven’t mentioned it before.”

“Equally not weird, probably. It’s all sexist stigma bullshit, yeah? You tell me when you’ve got a cold or injure yourself doing something stupid on set or whatever, why not that?” Shayne responds.

“True. Well, yeah, implanons can kinda mess with timing? Some people don’t get periods on them, wish I was one of those fuckers. But I just get a bad one every four months or so, I guess, so yeah, it’s been knocking me around since Friday. Don’t exactly feel like working out when my uterus is trying to strangle itself and sending my emotions all over the place, y’know?” She explains, and he nods in understanding.

“That makes sense. You good at the moment? Anything I can do to help?” He asks, and she cuddles against his side in response.

“I’m good. I’m less crampy later in the day and hanging out with you is good for the emotions. And exercise might actually be good for me if I don’t feel like death tomorrow morning,” she responds, as he wraps an arm around her and lightly pulls her closer.

“If you do feel like death I might even give the gym a miss anyway,” he admits, and she grins.

“You going to be so caring that I come before your gym sesh?”

“Obviously, but don’t push that too much,” he laughs, and she joins in.

“Don’t worry, I’ll make you go anyway.”

“Of course you will. Now, how long was the delivery timer on those dumplings?” Shayne changes the subject, and she grins.

Their dinner arrives fifteen minutes later, Shayne jumping off the couch to answer the door and take the order, tipping the delivery guy and quickly re-locking Courtney’s door after himself to take the food over to her small dining table.

“Come with sauce or nah?” she asks, wandering into her kitchen again.

“A very small quantity – you got soy sauce?” Shayne queries, Courtney not answering but returning to sit at the table with him holding a bottle of the requested condiment.

They eat their meal in mostly silence, until Courtney’s phone still sitting back on the table starts ringing the second she shoves the entirety of her third dumpling into her mouth.

“Fuck,” she mumbles around the food, Shayne laughing and quickly going to grab the phone from her.

“It’s Olivia, cool if I answer?” He asks, Courtney quickly nodding in affirmation. “Hey, Liv,” he answers the call immediately.

“Wait, I thought I called Courtney?” Olivia responds.

“You did, but she just shoved a whole fucking dumpling in her mouth and these are sizeable dumplings,” Shayne explains as he moves back to sit at his place on the table, “give her a minute.”

“Oh, right, sounds like Court. Well, Shayne, do you know what brand the eyelash curler she recommended was? I went to buy the damn thing because I’m on an amazon kick right now and forgot what it was,” Olivia explains, and Shayne laughs.

“I am not an expert on eyelash curlers, I can hand you over to Court though,” he replies, missing Olivia’s response as he hands the phone over and goes to shove a dumpling in his own mouth.

“Hey Liv, eyelash curler? You forget the brand again?” Courtney guesses as she puts the phone to her own ear, pausing as Olivia explains yet again.

Shayne offers to take their rubbish out to the large bins in the apartment complex when they finish, Courtney reluctantly accepting and handing him her key for the bins, flitting around the apartment putting a few things back in their places while he does. She sits down on the couch, quickly pulling open her laptop and shooting an email off to Ian and Sarah about their plans for his graduation just around the corner (provided he passes his final exams, but he hasn’t failed a course yet in his extended degree, so she figures it’s a safe assumption he will). She logs out of her email client and closes the laptop just as he re-enters, wandering over to join her on the couch.

“You can keep doing whatever if you’d like, I don’t mind,” he tells her, but she shakes her head.

“Nah, I just sent that script through to Sarah so she has it first thing tomorrow,” she fibs, “and this whole period thing makes me annoyingly horny, so you know… we can’t do much, but making out?”

“Definitely,” he grins, pressing a firm kiss to her lips, although he ends it quickly, “what do you mean by can’t, though? You don’t want to, which is totally fine, or you’d think I don’t want to?”

“The second. Plus it’s kinda messy, I get why guys aren’t keen on it, I guess,” she explains, shrugging, “you sound like you’re going to debate that point?”

“I mean I… maybe not super keen on going down on you, but happy to do pretty much everything else I’d do otherwise?” he turns awkward for a moment, “but I don’t really know what the deal is with sensitivity and whatever, I really should know more about this, I’m sorry.”

“It’s cool, Shayne, it’s not entirely your fault no one has ever told you about period sex, I’m guessing. I mean, I’ve never had it either, but…” she trails off, pressing another kiss against his cheek when she can’t think what else to say.

“But?” he presses, “only say what you want to, but I’m seriously not going to judge you for anything sexual you tell me. Especially if it’s about your own boundaries and preferences. I want to know those.”

“Not so much boundaries, but. I do get super horny during mine, that wasn’t entirely a joke, I usually just get off in the shower to manage the mess side of it,” she admits, and he nods.

“Is that an option for us, then, if you’d like to?” He asks, tone careful, watching her grin in realisation.

“Mm… had not thought of that. Yes. You’re smart,” she replies, shifting to press another kiss against his lips. He lets her deepen the kiss this time, not feeling the need to break it to say anything else.


	10. Chapter 7 Part 2: EXPLICIT CONTENT (Optional Scene)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As with all explicit content in this story, this is purely optional content and does not need to be read to understand the main story.

Courtney isn’t entirely sure how the progression goes, but their making out leads to him lying back on her couch, shirtless, as she sits on his lower abdomen and pulls her own shirt over her head before leaning down to continue kissing him. His hands grip her back roughly but with careful intent to hold her close as they kiss, and it fills her with joy to have such a clear signal that he wants her as much as she does him. There is a growing desire in her mind that is getting increasingly difficult to ignore, and it leads her to shift under his grasp and move so she is sitting on the coffee table opposite the couch, poking his hip to get him to move so he’s facing her.

She doesn’t verbally ask the question, but when she moves her hands to the button of his pants and looks up at him, he quickly nods in response. One of his hands reaches out to hold her shoulder as she pops the button and slides the zipper down, as if he just needed to find somewhere to touch her that wouldn’t get in the way of what she was doing. She lets herself fall to kneeling on the floor in front of him to finish removing his pants, letting his socks roll off as she does, his hand on her shoulder following her down.

“Can I take off your underwear too?” Courtney asks him verbally, this time, as she quickly reaches behind herself to remove her own bra.

“Yeah, baby, and I’m going to pre-empt your next question and say yes you can touch me,” he replies, out of breath, eyes shifting straight to her chest. She intentionally squares her shoulders back to push her breasts forward as he does, grinning as she shifts up slightly again so she can tug at the waistband of his boxers and pull them down and off his legs. She takes the base of his penis immediately, feeling it harden even further in her hand as she leans forward and her intention becomes clear.

“Oh, shit,” Shayne murmurs as she places her lips on his head for a moment in a light kiss, before pushing out her tongue to lick carefully along his length. His hand reaches down again to cup the base of her jaw, thumb rubbing softly across her cheek as she starts taking him into her mouth. She starts slowly at first, her hand rubbing along the exposed part of his penis as her mouth covers the tip. His vocal reactions increase with time, and even more so as she gradually takes him further into her mouth.

Shayne has to fight to hold himself back from thrusting into her mouth, but he has no desire to push her pace, wanting to avoid even the slightest chance of making this uncomfortable for her. He continues to run patterns across her cheek with his thumb to keep himself under control, letting his other hand fall to knot in her hair as he feels his penis grazing the back of her throat, her hand moving to carefully massage his balls.

“Fuck, Courtney,” he groans unashamedly, feeling her mouth move along him again as she lets him fall back out of her mouth.

“Stop holding back, baby. You’re not going to hurt me,” she tells him softly, reaching one hand up to grip his hand still resting against her face before she again leans forward and takes him into her mouth.

He’s still cautious, but this time he lets his hips buck slightly and push himself further in, although not far enough to hit the back of her throat again. Still, she keeps going, and he soon feels her throat tightening around him as she deepthroats him, his full length now buried in her mouth. She doesn’t stay in place for long, moving back along his dick, but it gives him the confidence to start moving in time with her, his hand falling into a pattern of tightening in her hair when she moves forward to take more of him and loosening when she pulls back.

“I’m going to cum, baby, where?” he asks her as he feels himself getting closer. She glances up in response, meeting his gaze as she deepthroats him again, before pulling back slightly, taking all his cum and quickly swallowing.

“Come here,” he murmurs when she eventually moves her mouth off him, and she follows, pulling herself back up onto the couch and onto his lap. “That was amazing.”

“I hope so,” she replies, voice briefly hoarse before it cracks slightly and returns to normal. She hesitates before kissing him, not sure whether he’s chill with kissing her when he’s just cum in her mouth, but he quickly answers her unspoken concern by pulling her into a kiss himself, tongue immediately pressing inside her mouth. It fuels the fire she feels in herself and she grinds down against his lap, gasping as he responds by shifting his hands up to her chest.

“Come with me?” she asks, reluctantly pulling back and stepping off the couch to hold a hand out towards him. He takes her hand and stands immediately, letting her pull him towards her bathroom. She flicks one light on as they enter, but clearly not the main light, leaving the room only mildly illuminated. Shayne draws her into his arms in the centre of the room, light kisses pressed all over her face as she smiles softly.

“Can I take these off?” he murmurs, one hand resting at the front of her shorts. She nods, biting her lip as he hooks his fingers in her waistband, inadvertently sliding under her underwear too and pulling both layers off at once.

“Oh, right – can you get out for a minute? Nothing remotely sexy about removing a tampon,” she mumbles, awkwardness fighting against her arousal. He pauses for a second, before slowly nodding, stepping back out of the bathroom into the hallway, out of sight of the doorway. “You can come back now,” she calls, a few moments later, flicking the mixer to her preferred temperature as she steps into the – thankfully, large – shower.

Shayne steps back into the room, smiling widely at her as he steps into the shower, the water cascading across his shoulders and back as he reaches out for her again. She happily steps into his embrace, pulling him slightly towards the wall so the water isn’t falling in his eyes. It leaves her completely out of it, but she doesn’t really mind – him wrapped around her is exactly as much warmth as she’s looking for.

“What do you want, baby?” he asks her, quietly, between firm kisses to her lips. She doesn’t respond verbally, but she reaches down to grip his penis, stroking it slowly as he hardens again, before guiding it towards her vagina.

Shayne hears her request loud and clear despite her lack of verbalisation, moving his own hand down to help guide himself into her. He moves slowly, feeling her stretch around him as he pushes further into her. They both groan, and she leans her head back, narrowly missing hitting it against the tile wall behind herself.

“Careful,” he murmurs, reaching up to place a hand at the back of her head. Courtney responds by shifting backwards until she is leaning against the wall, pulling him along with her. He lets himself push forward against her in response, pressing her against the wall as he thrusts in and out of her, one hand remaining at the base of her head as he reaches down to her clit. She grinds against him as he moves, unrestrained gasps and moans falling from both their mouths as they messily fall away from their kiss, too otherwise occupied.

Courtney feels herself getting close almost embarrassingly quickly, but the extra pressure already present in her lower abdomen is making everything much more sensitive. She tries to match his steady thrusts into her with her responding movements, but she falters when the head of his penis pushes across her g spot, crying out and letting her head fall forward to rest against his shoulder. She can feel the muscles in his shoulder rippling as he moves his hand against her clit, and she grips at his back in response, her nails digging slightly into his skin

“I’m gonna- fuck,” she groans, not able to get her full statement out, but the way he reinforces his movements against her clit with his hips tells her he understood anyway. She cums hard a moment later, curling forward against him and inadvertently moving them away from the cool tile wall as she shudders through her orgasm, feeling him still moving – albeit much slower – inside her and pressing his fingers against her clit. She reaches down to push his hand away from her clit after a moment, and he immediately complies, but she reaches around to grab his ass and pull him against her again, pushing his dick further inside her.

“You want to keep going?” he asks, pausing his movements for a moment.

“Yes, please,” she mumbles in response, “but my legs feel like they might collapse.”

“I can help with that,” he murmurs, both hands moving down to the top of her thighs and signalling for her to hop up so he can hold her. He wraps his arms around her upper torso and lifts her up as she wraps her legs around his hips, letting his dick pull out of her in the process, Shayne pushing her back against the tiles for extra support as he moves one arm to hold under her ass, the other firmly wrapped around her shoulders.

“Fuck, this is so hot,” she responds, gripping him tightly as he enters and starts thrusting into her again. She can’t move much with him holding her up like this, so she simply holds on to him as tightly as she can, lips occasionally pressing messy kisses to whichever part of his skin she can reach – usually some combination of his jaw, neck and shoulders.

“I love you so much Courtney, baby,” he murmurs, his own head turning to press a sloppy kiss to the side of her face some time later, as they both get closer to their second orgasms of the evening. “You feel so fucking good, you’re so fucking hot.”

“God, baby, you’re going to make me cum again,” she responds, breathless, and it causes him to thrust harder into her.

“Me too, baby,” he tells her, shifting up his rhythm slightly to an intensity and pace that he knows he couldn’t quite maintain for a whole session but will take them both over the edge.

He cums first, this time, but she quickly follows, the feeling of him filling her being the last straw needed for her own cum to mix with his, her walls tightening around him and holding him in place.

“Fuck, Shayne,” she murmurs, turning into a groan as he slowly slips out of her, his dick starting to soften. She reluctantly unwraps her legs from around him and stands up, although she is even more weak than before, leaning heavily against the wall behind herself as she grips his shoulders.


	11. Chapter 8: Vulnerable

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a little note about the inadvertent social commentary in the last couple paragraphs: I don't mean it as a serious dig at any ~other ships~ in this fandom at all (all power to you, shaymien shippers, the damien/shayne dynamic is indeed a good one), just commentary on how men are socialised in general
> 
> anyway on to the actual fic

“Fuck, did I hurt you with my nails? I kind of got carried away,” Courtney admits, carefully, leaning back against the shower wall in exhaustion after they finish, hand resting gently on his back where she had ended up gripping a little too tightly amongst their intimacy.

“No, baby, it’s fine. It wasn’t bad pain, it’s super hot to have you clinging to me like that,” he answers, still evidently trying to regain his breath. He pulls her away from the wall and into his arms a moment later, wrapping her in a tight hug as he pulls them both back under the stream of water, still warm – thank god for the central hot water in her building.

“I feel like I actually need to shower now,” the laugh she lets out is much closer to a giggle than she would usually allow, but she lets it slide this once, seeing him smile in response.

“Same. You think you can stay away from me if we shower together?” He asks, teasing, and she tilts her head.

“Maybe,” she responds without conviction, reaching over to her loofah hanging on the edge of the unused soap dish. For his part, Shayne quickly identifies and grabs her shower gel from the shelf where her shampoos and the like sit, reaching out to ask her to hand over the loofah.

Courtney pauses for a moment, the sheer intimacy of the moment suddenly hitting her. No one has helped her shower or clean herself since her parents when she was a very young child, certainly no one she has a fully formed adult relationship with. Certainly not someone she’s been dating for nine days – but she can’t find it in herself to feel exposed or worried. It’s Shayne. Of course it’s not a problem.

So, she lets the loofah fall into his hand and watches as he squirts a small quantity of shower gel onto it, reaching forward and starting to run gentle circles across her abdomen. She can’t help but let her eyes fall shut as he does, settling into the vulnerability and comfort of the situation. She repeats the process on him, after he finishes, before they both reluctantly step out of the shower into towels and each dry themselves.

Shayne steps out of the room to go and grab his clothes as soon as he is no longer dripping wet, Courtney shifting the other direction into her room after she has pulled on her underwear to find a sleep shirt. She has one that was definitely one of his shirts stolen some time ago, and she goes for that one, although it no longer smells like him the way it used to, too many washes between when it was his and now.

“How you feeling?” he asks, wandering into her bedroom a few minutes later in mid-thigh-length checked pyjama shorts and no shirt, rubbing the towel he had used across his lightly damp hair.

“Satisfied, tired, in love,” she answers, grinning, sitting cross-legged on the end of her bed, “but also a little bit annoyed, I’m going to have to blow dry my hair before I can lie down.”

“You wanna do that now, so we can go to bed?” he asks, and she nods, reluctantly standing up and stretching before she wanders into the bathroom.

“How are you feeling?” she calls out, returning his question. It encourages him to follow her path back towards the bathroom, hanging up both their towels before moving to lean against the doorway and watch as she flicks her hairdryer on.

“Much the same,” he answers, voice raised ever so slightly over the whirring of the hairdryer, “and… vulnerable but in a good way. I don’t know if I’ve ever opened myself up so much to someone. And I feel so at peace with doing it.”

“I get that,” she answers, pausing her statement as she grabs her hairbrush off the counter to move her hair around and ensure she gets the underside dry, too.

Shayne wanders back to the living room as she continues drying her hair, folding his clothes strewn across the floor and stuffing them into the bottom of his bag, pulling his workout clothes for tomorrow out to sit on top of her dresser in her room for ease of access in the morning. He grabs his phone out of the backpack, scrolling through the notifications he’s missed having not actually looked at it since he got to her place seven hours ago as he wanders back into her room and sits at the end of her bed.

Most of them are safe to ignore, a series of annoying promotional emails that make him want to turn off email notifications on his phone interspersed by the occasional text. Olivia had sent him a string of eye and lipstick emojis not long after he answered her call on Courtney’s phone – he guesses her best emoji representation of eyelash maintenance – and he doesn’t feel the need to reply to that one. He flicks a quick reply to his brother, Chris, apologising for not replying earlier. He gives the explanation of “at Courtney’s place”, wondering how would be best to tell his brothers that he’d finally taken the leap and ended up with her for real. They didn’t know the extent of his feelings for her, but they – well, Chris, anyway – constantly teased him about their relationship and he didn’t exactly hide the fact that there was _something_ there, however unrealised it had been for so long.

Chris sends a string of smirking emojis in response to his text, almost immediately, and he can’t bring himself to reply, given the emojis weren’t entirely inaccurate.

Damien is the other text he feels the need to reply to, knowing it’s out of character for him to leave Damien without a response for so long, especially on a weekend.

“Hey dude, sorry I didn’t get back to you – at Courtney’s. Hope your Sunday stream went well, see you at work tomorrow?” he sends, not responding directly to the string of texts about this new game he’d come across that he was so sure Shayne would like.

“No problem, see you tomorrow. Say hi to Court from me!” his reply is quick, too, coming through just as Courtney wanders back into the room.

“Damien says hi,” he tells her, flicking his phone onto silent as he stands up off the bed and sets it over on one of her bedside tables.

“Oh? He texting you?” she replies, immediately moving to what he figures is her side of the bed and starting to pull the covers back.

“He was earlier, I hadn’t checked my phone since I drove over here so I thought I should chuck a few apologies out for ignoring everyone,” he explains, following her gesture to move the covers on the side of the bed he is standing and starting to climb in. She walks back over near the door, flicking the light switch and leaving only her bedside lamp on as she also climbs into bed, both sliding under the covers and meeting in the middle.

“Sounds like you’re popular,” she grins, and he shakes his head.

“Just spam emails, Olivia being silly, Damien and Chris,” he shrugs.

“Have you told your brothers?” she asks.

“No, I figure it’s not a ‘hey by the way all your teasing was right I’m in love with Courtney and we’re dating now’ text conversation but I haven’t had a chance to call either of them since we got back from Games. Or I haven’t felt like it, I dunno. Have you told Kari or anyone?” he turns the question back on her.

“Nope, no family yet, but she was planning on coming down this way tomorrow to grab dinner with me so I probably will then,” she muses, “she’s going to be pleased, probably.”

“Not gonna lie, she scares me a little, I got half a best friend’s talk from Olivia at work the other day but I’m worried I’ll get a harsher one from Kari,” he admits.

“What did Olivia say?”

“Something along the lines of don’t fuck it up but she doesn’t think I will anyway and she reserves the right to tease the fuck out of us and if she’s ever weird around me it’s because she’s pried info about our sex life out of you,” he laughs, and Courtney groans.

“I’m so not telling her anything about our sex life, then,” she shakes her head as best she can against the pillow, “I half told her about our fantasising jokes convo, but nothing else. Last she knew we hadn’t actually slept together yet.”

“For what it’s worth, I told Damien about our convo in the truck and he recognised the shirt you were wearing on Wednesday so he knows we’ve slept together but – no detail, and he’s not going to get any. As you know I guess, I’m not exactly open about that kind of thing,” Shayne admits.

“Liv and I used to share extensive detail when we were dating around and whatever but I refuse to know anything about her and Sam and she won’t know shit about us,” Courtney confirms, “I don’t mind you told Damien that stuff though. I actually had a chat to him on Tuesday when you weren’t at work about stuff, not exactly a best friend talk because he told me he didn’t think it was necessary, though.”

“He told me he let slip my little internal dilemma when you came out, I figured you guys must have had some kind of deep convo for that to come out. I don’t mind though.”

“It wasn’t super deep, he just kinda asked why it had taken so long from my end, and one of the reasons I gave was being worried that as inclusive as you are, you wouldn’t be so keen on me knowing I’m not entirely straight,” she is hesitant as she speaks, but he quickly shakes his head.

“I hope he told you how proud of you I was when you came out because I really was. I admire you for being so open and vulnerable with something that I know has caused you more internal struggle that you really let on, and it doesn’t impact how I feel about you in the slightest. I don’t buy into that bullshit about pan and bi people being more likely to cheat or whatever. I trust you, no matter what.”

“Sometimes I feel like it was useless of me to come out when I already knew I was weirdly committed to you. I mean, I guess there was a part of me that rationalised it because what if nothing ever happened between us and I had to force myself to look elsewhere? But, I dunno, more and more of my past I look back on and realise it’s been part of who I am for a really long time, it just took me a while to click.”

“Just because we’re together doesn’t mean you’re suddenly straight, Court. You’re still you,” he reassures her softly, and she nods slowly.

“I know that, I guess, it’s just… I dunno. Sometimes I feel like a fraud for identifying with that community even though I’ve never hooked up with a girl and if things go to plan, never will. I know it’s not true, it’s just… something I occasionally think about.”

“I understand what you mean, but I’m glad you know it isn’t true,” he responds, “and you know, maybe you need to chat with someone else who is in that community about it? I’m happy to listen to you as much as you like, but I can’t offer as much reassurance as a token straight dude.”

“You sure you’re straight, Shayney baby? The internet wants you and Damien to fuck as much as it wants us to be together,” she teases, and he laughs.

“You know, I wondered if I was gay for a couple months back at Disney even though I was clearly into girls, not guys, because I didn’t identify with the guys who were really aggressively chasing after every woman they saw, but meeting Damien actually made it click that there were other ways to be straight that were a little more relaxed and respectful and didn’t objectify attractive women,” he muses, “because he was already in that space and was dating someone super casually but wasn’t an asshole about it.”

“It’s kinda sad that you thought that made you gay, although impressively ironic that Damien confirmed your straightness,” she says in response, and he laughs lightly.

“Yeah, I mean, I’m cool to joke about whatever the internet conjures up about me and Damien but – it kinda annoys me that two guys being low key affectionate and having a close friendship is automatically seen that way. It’s so hard to get that kind of quality platonic relationship with a guy, and writing off any male-male affection as automatically sexual is kinda part of the problem,” he says, “and sorry, my brain is a little in social psych mode, I spent yesterday studying.”

“You don’t need to apologise dude, I love listening to you talk about all the stuff you’ve learnt and all these super interesting perspectives you have on things like that. And you absolutely have a point. And I guess there’s an argument about us there, too, about how men and women can’t just be friends without something being involved but also- maaaaaybe our brand of friendship was always a little sketchy.”

“Just a little,” he grins, hand reaching up between them to take hers, his thumb starting to absentmindedly rub circles against the back of her hand.


	12. Chapter 9: Not The Slightest

It does take them a moment to settle back into working together under their new arrangement. In theory, very little changes around the office – bar a little teasing from their co-workers, and an awkward statement at a joint meeting with the Mythical team members who shared their office space explaining it was open at work but very much _not_ public – but shoots feel a little different. Shayne starts their first silly Pit shoot since they got together trying his hardest not to focus on Courtney too much, but Sarah tells him it looks like he’s actively avoiding her, and he has to fall back into carefully managing how much he does. For her part, Courtney has an easier time acting as she usually does – she’s more touchy with him on camera anyway than he is with her – but she calls him a pet name more times than she can keep track of, forcing them to cut and re-shoot sections.

“I’m so sorry, ugh, I swear I’ll get better at this – it won’t happen again,” she rushes out to the producers the fourth time she lets a ‘baby’ slip when she’s making fun of him for something, and they don’t seem to mind, but it still makes her feel awkward and unprofessional. There’s a little voice in her head that goes back to the Defy rules against cast relationships and tells her this is why they existed, but she quickly shakes it off, slipping back into her camera persona for the sketch.

It’s easier when they’re shooting videos with the whole cast, including the no-longer-here-but-still-kind-of-involved crew from Games. The dynamic between the whole lot of them is a good buffer for any changes in their personal dynamic, and they have a handful of larger group shoots themed to go amongst the Summer Games content they had shot in Nevada a month earlier.

Courtney is quietly pleased for the apocalypse TNTL – it’s the _perfect_ opportunity to bring out Boneless – and she makes Shayne promise his own bit will be at least mostly not-shirtless.

She still can’t help but almost immediately spit out her water when he walks out with a dark-green military-style jacket on, a stupid walk, and judging by some of his movements, very little underneath.

“I think I saw shaft,” Damien jokes for the camera, everyone else laughing the comment off.

“I should have put shorts on, should’ve put shorts on,” Shayne hums as they walk off set after the cameras stop rolling.

“Yeah you should’ve, dude,” Mari responds, before they all wander back off to wardrobe to change back into their usual clothes and ditch the apocalypse vibes.

————————————————

Kari invites Courtney to a last-minute dinner catch up the Wednesday evening, two days shy of what she guesses is technically her 2-week anniversary with Shayne. It’s been a while since the two of them caught up, and Courtney is just a tiny bit excited to share her new development with her closest sister, so she accepts the invitation despite the fact it’s mildly inconvenient because she has a whole lot of sketch shoots on Thursday and she still needs to learn some lines.

“How’s work been going, everyone good?” Kari asks her as they settle down to their meal in a small eatery not too far from their Dad’s place.

“It’s been pretty good, just going along pretty well. We’ve all kind of settled into the new parent company deal now, it’s definitely feeling a lot more normal and stable than it did a few months ago,” Courtney explains. She glances around them to check who is nearby as she talks, finding that the only people seated remotely within earshot of them are an older couple who she assumes are not Smosh viewers. She figures it’s safe to tell Kari her news, then, she just isn’t sure how to bring it up.

“Nice, nice, haven’t been drawn into any big internet dramas or anything?” Kari jokes, and Courtney rolls her eyes.

“No, no internet dramas at all for us. Although…” she trails off, hoping Kari takes her hint that she wants to talk about something in her own life.

“Oh? Although- you got some personal drama there?” Kari grins, and Courtney shakes her head although she can’t stop herself from smirking a little.

“No drama, but uh… A development, I guess? So, uh, the Friday before last Shayne and I did our usual hangout thing but we just kind of went and chilled in this nice little spot up in the hills in his Dad’s truck he was looking after, after we got dinner instead of going to one of our places-“

“Just you two?” Kari interrupts.

“Yeah, just us, you know we hang out alone a lot,” Courtney reminds her.

“And?” she pushes her to continue.

“Well… we sat up there in the back of the truck talking, and I guess we fell into a conversation about how there’s parts of our relationship that we’ve been holding back on for a while and… yeah. Kinda admitted we’re in love with each other, dating now,” Courtney finishes.

“Oh my god, seriously? You’re actually dating Shayne?” Kari replies, eyes wide as Courtney tries to fight the stupid smile off her own face, failing miserably.

“Yeah, and we’re not exactly being casual about it. Kind of head over heels for each other and being a lot more honest about that now. Not- not publicly though. Publicly we’re still just friends for a while longer. But, yeah, Shayne is kinda my boyfriend now?”

“Well, Courtney, I am both surprised and totally not surprised. I know you’ve been into him forever and just lying about it, but I never really saw anything actually happening – who was it?” Kari asks, and Courtney shrugs.

“Technically him, but it wasn’t just him confessing, it was an extended conversation that we both contributed to,” she explains, feeling a little defensive under Kari’s prying eyes.

“It does piss me off a little that you’ve spent years claiming you’re just friends and then you come out and tell me you’re in love with him,” Kari admits, “it is certainly a drastic change. Makes me a little suspicious.”

“I know it seems like a lot, Kari, but it’s just… for us, it’s not actually that much of a change. We’ve been emotionally committed to each other for a really long time, we just pretended we weren’t. And it wasn’t like we intentionally misled everyone else for the sake of it, I can’t entirely speak for him – although we’ve talked about this a lot, I probably could – but I was fucking _terrified_ , okay? He’s not just another guy, he’s absolutely everything for me. He’s who I want to marry and maybe have a family with someday, and I know that sounds _insane_ when I’ve been dating him for less than 2 weeks, but we aren’t strangers. Hell, we aren’t even just going from friends to dating, we’re going from… some unlabelled grey area to a more defined but not significantly different dating label,” Courtney emphasises, not willing to let herself stop until she’s got it out. She figured she might get some pushback from Kari, but it still fires her up a little.

“So, this really isn’t just a casual you’re hooking up now thing, hey?” she replies, and Courtney shakes her head.

“Not the slightest bit casual.”

“Were you secretly hooking up already before this?” she asks, seeming to let up on the pressure a little, although Courtney isn’t convinced her sister isn’t still harbouring some concerns.

“No, we weren’t. We hadn’t had any remotely sexual physical interactions other than the couple of times we’ve had to kiss in a sketch before that night. And even then, I’ve kissed almost everyone else at work more than him in sketches,” she defends, Kari nodding.

“And since then?”

“Um, no comment,” Courtney squirms a little, glancing up and thankfully seeing a server walking over with their food. It causes Kari to also pause, not responding until their meals have been set down and they’ve started eating.

“Is that a no comment because we’re in public or no comment because you’re going to refuse to tell me anything?” Kari picks up their conversation a few minutes later, and Courtney shrugs.

“A bit of both. Like, look, I will tell you that yes, we’ve slept together, but I’m going to leave it at that. I’m happy to talk to you about us within reason but – it’s our relationship, and there’s parts of it that are going to stay between us.”

“Okay, yeah, I get that. I’m sorry I’m being harsh on you, dude, but it’s a little bit weird for me to see perpetually single Courtney who’s only ever done casual shit with very little effort since your last significant relationship suddenly acting super serious and committed to that goof she works with.”

“Maybe the reason I’ve put so little effort into things is because I didn’t really want to be with anyone else,” she admits, Kari nodding.

“That makes sense now, but still. I hope he’s a good boyfriend.”

“Oh, he is, he’s a total sweetheart. Olivia gave him a weak-ass best friends talk the other day apparently, he mentioned he was scared you’d give him a much harsher one,” she muses.

“Scared, hey? Interesting. Well, I absolutely planned on giving him one as soon as you admitted you’re together, although the content of it has changed with this conversation, but- when does he have Goldbergs shoots, again? Maybe I should drop by the office soon, it’s a while since I’ve messed with Ian,” Kari teases, Courtney smiling uneasily in response.

“Goldbergs is off for a summer break, so he’s around pretty much whenever I am. Don’t be an asshole to my boy though, okay? I know he looks a certain way and he’s a complete idiot sometimes but he’s actually very sensitive and private and caring. Ian’s a free for all though, he can take it.”

“Ian knows he’s not my type but it’s fun to joke around with him. I’ll see when I can get over, you’re in Burbank now, yeah?”

“Yeah, Burbank. I can flick you the address as long as you promise to give me some warning when you’re coming?”


	13. Chapter 10: On Board

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This feels like a good place to point out that no character I use in this story, even if they borrow names and relationships from real people, are actually those people. Especially if I've written them to do or say questionable things - just gotta have some plot devices, y'know?

Kari somehow manages to turn up on the day the following week where Shayne has uncharacteristically offered to pop out of the office and grab lunch for everyone again, so soon after his lunch run with Damien. Courtney watches her roll with it anyway, greeting everyone as if she were here to visit her sister and mess with Ian, not interrogate Shayne.

“I realised when I caught up with Courtney the other week that I haven’t seen your new office yet!” she tells Ian when she arrives, and Courtney grins as they immediately start verbally sparring with each other. Okay, so she had two legitimate reasons for visiting.

“Oh, Kari, it’s been so long! Nice to see you!” Sarah tells her when she walks into the break room where a few of them are sitting, expecting Shayne’s imminent arrival with food, “we gotta get you in a video again sometime soon.”

“We should get you in a Smoshcast, since we did that one about how Ian is trying to date you,” Courtney suggests, and both Ian and Kari laugh.

“I’d be up for that.”

Courtney is facing the door, opposite her sister, and she notices Shayne re-enter the building before anyone else. She catches his eye through the glass of the breakroom walls, glancing towards Kari to warn him of her presence, although she can’t manage to pass on anything else before Olivia notices him and calls out the arrival of their food.

“Hi Kari, Courtney mentioned you might come see us sometime – how are you?” Shayne greets her immediately, setting the food down on the table, “someone should’ve texted me; I could’ve grabbed you some lunch too.”

“Hey Shayne, all good,” she answers, a little coolly, and Courtney glares at her.

“Kari,” she warns.

“Yeah, Court?”

Courtney simply shakes her head, reaching for her food as everyone else does.

“Hey, Shayne, think we could have a chat in private?” Kari asks him, when everyone else is distracted, although Courtney is still watching them closely, eyes narrowing at her. A week ago she wouldn’t have been the slightest bit concerned about Kari talking to Shayne – she thought Kari would be on board with this, as excited as she is – but after her reaction when she’d found out and the way she’d greeted him today, she was worried.

“Sure,” Shayne answers, warm as ever, although he shoots a mildly terrified glance back at Courtney as they step out of the room and he guides her towards Ian’s empty office.

“I love you,” Courtney mouths at him, before turning back to her food.

“Where are they going?” Olivia asks, and Courtney sighs as everyone turns to face her.

“Kari wasn’t super on board when I told her. She’s always found a way to have a chat with anyone I seriously date, but this is a little more… threatening than usual. Kinda worried for him, although he knew she was gonna do this,” Courtney admits.

Shayne figures the easiest place to lead Kari that would be at least somewhat private is Ian’s office a couple of doors down, since Ian is having lunch with the others, but the silent ten-second walk is bad enough as it is. He can’t help but be kind of scared of Kari in this situation – he was mostly joking when he mentioned her a couple of weeks earlier at Courtney’s place, but what he’d heard from Courtney since had made him seriously concerned. Sure, he was prepared to defend their relationship, but he didn’t expect to need to do so like this.

“So, what are you doing?” Kari asks, a harsh tone to her voice, but the question confuses him.

“What do you mean?” he clarifies, and she sighs.

“Look at this from my point of view, dude. I know you’re all friends here, and I’ve known she was into you forever, but you are co-workers and you’ve never shown the slightest interest in her. And then suddenly she turns around and tells me you’re in love with her and you told her that before you even officially got together. Why should I believe you?” Kari pushes. It makes Shayne feel defensive for a moment, his brain resisting the amount of emotional exposure he’s asking of her. It makes him regret not having a closer relationship with Courtney’s family earlier- and that regret forms the start of his thought.

“Kari, you gotta understand first, I’m an inherently private person around his kind of stuff and I feel a little weird talking to you about it, but I’m going to try. And honestly, I think that means I’ve made a mistake in the past in not spending more time with you and the rest of you and Courtney’s family, because if I had you might know I have absolutely shown interest in her for a very long time and I might be more comfortable talking with you about things, but-“ he pauses, taking a deep breath, “I know I can’t magically make you trust me, but I swear, I’m in this for all the right reasons. Courtney and I have been closer than anyone else in the cast for quite a while, and it’s kind of been an open secret around here that even though we always claimed we weren’t dating, there was a reason everyone thought we were. I can’t pinpoint when I fell in love with her, but it isn’t new. Courtney is perfect, she’s so driven and passionate about her interests, she’s fiercely independent and she makes me laugh more than anyone else. She’s the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen, she’s unbelievably caring, I’ve never felt more at peace than when I’m with her. She’s everything to me, and I know we’ve jumped into everything serious very quickly, but we’re both very aware of that and we aren’t being stupid and impulsive. I’ve known Courtney is the only person I want to be with long-term for a really long time, it’s just now I know she feels the same, and we’re being a lot more honest with each other about our true feelings.”

“Why now, though? I know there were rules back at Defy, but why not six months ago when that collapsed?” she pushes again, and he sighs.

“Because six months ago we were all thrown into very unstable positions in life and as much as it did cross my mind, it wasn’t the right time for either of us to jump into a serious relationship. And I honestly can’t say why now – it wasn’t some magical change, we just happened to fall into a conversation that led us to talking about our relationship and admitting there was more to it than we had previously let on.”

“What’s actually changed then, if all this isn’t new?” Kari queries, “Is it just physical stuff?”

“No, it’s not just that,” he shuts that line of conversation down as quickly as he can, trying not to openly cringe, “we’ve always been pretty open and vulnerable with each other but now it’s just… everything. There isn’t a thing I wouldn’t tell her if she wanted to know, and I’m there for her no matter what.”

“What’s your end game with her, then? Long-term? Marriage? Kids?” Kari asks, and Shayne squeezes his eyes shut for a moment before he answers.

“Look, I haven’t even discussed any of this with her yet, although we’ve both admitted that yeah, we’re in this long-term and ideally forever. So… yeah, I absolutely want to marry her someday. I don’t know when, we’ve literally been together for all of two-and-a-bit weeks, but I know she’s in my future. Kids, I don’t even know in general, but if I was going to have a family with anyone it would be her. I- yeah.”

“Okay, okay. I know you’ll hate this question so it will be the last one for now, I think, but… What’s your stance on consent? Protection?” she asks, bluntly, and Shayne can’t help but grimace as he feels his face heat up in embarrassment.

“I’m really not comfortable talking about this stuff. Courtney and I are adults and we have open conversations about anything like that between ourselves. Consent is super fucking important, of course, I’d never do anything she isn’t actively approving of- but there’s some things we’re going to keep private. I will defend how I feel about her to the ends of the earth because I know you’re important to her and I want you to realise how much I really do care about her and want the best for her always but I just- I’m still going to draw a line.”

“Okay. I respect you wanting some things private. Look, I won’t say I wasn’t… hesitant, when she told me. But you are making it difficult to fault you. I don’t know, maybe I don’t have enough exposure to how you two act around each other off camera, I’m evidently missing the piece of the puzzle where this is just an expected flow-on from your friendship that apparently wasn’t just a friendship. I do know she talks about you a lot, I can’t say I haven’t asked her if there was something there before, but honestly I always got the feeling she felt something for you but it wasn’t returned and that’s why she refused to talk about it. Maybe that’s why I’m cautious of you. But I- yeah,” Kari admits, and Shayne nods.

“Maybe we don’t spend enough time together. Look, if you want to character reference me through other people in the office – Olivia is Courtney’s best friend here, as I’m sure you know. Damien is my best friend, but super close to Courtney too. Ian acts like another protective big brother to her. Please do whatever you need until you’re comfortable with this, because it’s not going away any time soon, and I want to be part of your family, not an unwelcome outsider.”

“Let’s just say I feel much less worried about this whole thing than I did fifteen minutes ago. Come on, I’ll let you go eat your lunch, I need to bug Ian some more while I’m here,” Kari relents, gesturing towards the door.

“Thanks, Kari. And look, I know you’re looking out for Court, and I appreciate that, but I just – so am I, and she wasn’t exactly feeling great about how you see her after you had dinner the other night. Explain your perspective as much as you need to, but I think you need to consider hers, too.”

“Fair comment, I’ll leave her be for now, I know she’s working and all, but I’ll make a point to call her later. You guys planning anything this weekend, so I don’t interrupt?” She asks, more conversational as they step back out into the hallway.

“Realistically we’ll probably be together somewhere, but we’re not planning anything in particular. I’ve got finals for my last courses of this degree in a couple weeks, I’m spending a lot of time at her place studying.”

They step back into the break room then, Courtney immediately shooting worried eyes to meet Shayne’s. He gives her a reassuring smile in response, immediately walking around the table to slide into the empty seat that has been left beside her.

“All good, I’ll tell you everything later,” he murmurs to Courtney under his breath, and she nods, hand settling against his arm as he starts eating his lunch, hers already finished. Kari, for her part, glances at them briefly and gives half a smile before settling into a ridiculous conversation with Damien, Olivia and Ian.


	14. Chapter 11: Pining

“What did she say?” Courtney asks him, clearly worried, as she curls up against him on his couch that evening. They had been trying to keep their nights at each other’s apartments to the weekends, however they were slowly bleeding into regular weekdays, too, and Courtney was too stressed about the ten minutes he’d been with Kari at lunch to leave this discussion any longer.

“Well, she asked a lot of questions. I talked a lot more than her. She wanted to know why she should trust that I’m as in love with you as I say, why we’ve done this now, what I want long term, what’s changed now we’re dating, all that. Also how I see consent and whatever.”

“God, half of that would be unnecessary if she just accepted I’m a grown adult that can look after myself in a relationship,” Courtney grumbles, “I don’t know why she’s gone so harsh on you, or why she’s acting like this is some big thing pushed on her unexpectedly. I’m sorry you’ve had to bear the brunt of it.”

“I’m sorry that you’re having to deal with her not accepting what you say at face value - but I’m fine, you don’t need to apologise. It wasn’t... easy, for me, to be clear and open with her about how much I truly care about you and how much attention I’m putting into this. But I’ll do whatever necessary to defend our relationship whenever I need to, because you’re absolutely the most important thing in my life and I need everyone else who is important to either of us to see that too,” Shayne presses a soft kiss to her cheek when he finishes, and she sighs happily and grips the hand resting on her thigh.

“I’ll defend us to all ends, too. Thank you. I love you so much,” Courtney’s reply is soft, and they pause in comfortable silence for a minute. “She didn’t pry too much, did she?”

“She tried to ask about us sleeping together but I dodged that one. I mean, she asked how I felt about marriage and kids and the like which was a lot given we haven’t even talked about that. And the consent question also asked if we use protection, so... yeah. I straight up told her that one was too personal,” he explains, and Courtney nods.

“To a degree I get asking about consent because the way you talk about it is such a representation of how gentle you are. Protection... she’s going to get a damn earful for that, that’s none of her business. As for marriage and kids... well,” Courtney pauses, head twisting awkwardly to the side in contemplation.

“Hmm?” Shayne presses her to continue, gently, and she shrugs.

“It’s early for us to talk about that. I don’t know whether it’d be weird to say, did you tell her where you stand on them?”

“Yeah, I couldn’t really dodge that one. And I mean- I kind of want to talk about it with you now, because I don’t like that she knows and you don’t,” Shayne admits, and Courtney nods.

“I want to marry you one day if you’re up for that. I know I want to spend my life with you. It might not be any time soon, but I know I want that eventually,” Courtney tells him, self-assured, “I don’t know about kids. I’ve never really wanted them, but the idea is a whole lot more enticing when it’s not just kids but it’s being able to raise a family with you.”

“I told her pretty much the same thing, I’m kinda the same with both,” Shayne replies, goofy grin adorning his face as he pulls her closer with his arm around her shoulders. “I just want to experience life with you. You make everything better.”

Courtney’s ring tone interrupts the peaceful silence they have settled into a couple of minutes later, and she groans as she has to pull away slightly from him to lean over to the coffee table and see who it is. Sighing as she angles the phone towards Shayne to let him see the caller ID for a moment, she slides across the screen to answer and pulls the phone to her ear.

“Kari,” she greets her, evenly.

“Hey Court,” her sister’s voice is softer than she expects, “are you free at the moment? I just want to have a little... follow up chat.”

“I’m with Shayne at his place and he can maybe hear everything you say but I’m going to tell him anyway so we’ll skip the middleman and you can just go for it,” Courtney replies.

“I can call back another time if you’d like, I don’t want to interrupt your time with him or anything,” Kari hesitates, and Courtney sighs.

“I’m not exactly happy with you about all this, Kari, I’d prefer you explain yourself sooner rather than later.”

“Yeah. I- I know I’ve been heavy handed. Your very caring boyfriend actually pointed out to me that maybe I needed to reassess how what I was doing looked to you, and I did, and- I don’t mean to question your judgment or anything, Court. I know you’re a grown adult and I shouldn’t be undercutting anything in your personal life. I’m sorry if I have. I love you a whole lot, I’ve always been the one from the family that looks out for you and knows what’s going on with you, it was jarring to have something this big pop up unexpectedly,” she explains, Courtney remaining silent as she speaks.

“It shouldn’t have been so unexpected if you paid more attention to my friendships,” Courtney points out, her own voice cracking. “I know all your friends. I hang out with them sometimes; I ask after them. You’ve done that for some of my friends but- not him.”

“I know. He blamed himself for not finding ways to spend more time with your family when you guys were just friends, but I think it’s on me as much as anything. Guys that look like Shayne are often... a certain way. I’ve never met a short blonde fit dude that wasn’t a total asshole. Or at least, I thought I hadn’t, but I got him totally wrong. I know that now. He’s so in love with you and he cares so much about you. I was trying to look out for you, but he was doing a better job of it. So, yeah, you absolutely get the big sister approval for him, and I’ll even clue up Mum and Dad before whenever you do that and tell them how much I like him, if you’d like.”

“I think I can handle Mum and Dad. But... thanks. I don’t think I need your approval of someone to trust them, but. And look, I’m usually okay with you talking to guys I date, I know you’ve usually just tried to get a general vibe, but you went straight in for the attack this time like you were trying to break down our relationship before it even started. I’m protective of Shayne too, you know, I don’t like that you were unfair to him, even if he dealt with it well,” Courtney finishes, glancing up to meet his eyes. He leans forward to brush a kiss lightly against her cheek in response, and she almost misses the start of Kari’s reply.

“Yeah, I... I know I was talking it down otherwise, but it felt like this one was high stakes. I promise I won’t treat him like that again. You should invite him next time we do a family and friends thing at Dad’s, I think I need to spend more time with him if he’s going to be part of our family for a long time,” Kari finishes, and Courtney knows it’s her indirect way of saying sorry for everything, so she accepts.

“We’ll see when the next thing happens, but yes, he’s going to be around for a long time.”

“I think I’ll leave you to it now, Court - enjoy your night,” Kari tells her. 

“Yeah, see you,” Courtney replies, hitting the end call button and flicking her phone up to the other end of the couch. 

“How much did you hear?” Courtney turns to Shayne.

“Almost all of it. I’m glad she called,” he replies, and Courtney nods.

“Thanks for telling her I wasn’t super cool with what she was doing. I didn’t know how to tell her in a way that wouldn’t just make it worse.”

“I’m just glad everything is good now,” Shayne says, leaning forward as if to kiss her, until his own ring tone interrupts them again. 

“Ugh,” he groans, reaching over to the table to grab it. “Chris. I kinda want to answer it and tell him.”

“Do it and tell me if you want me to scoot away a bit so I can’t hear,” Courtney encourages. 

“Nah, stay, you can hear,” Shayne tells her quickly, before answering the phone, “hey Chris, what’s up?”

“Hey Shayne, we haven’t talked for a while, just thought I’d see what you were up to, how everything is going with work and the like?” Chris queries.

“Yeah, everyone is going along pretty smoothly. Summer break for Goldbergs now but a fair bit on with Smosh, although we’ve got an almost-Summer break of sorts for that coming up soon too. How’s everything going with you?” he turns the question back on his eldest brother.

“Pretty good up here too, just cruising – I was actually thinking of heading down your way soon, catch up with the parents, try and see some NFL while I’m there too – you up to head to a game?” he muses.

“Yeah, that sounds good, as long as I’m free. Wife and the kids coming?” Shayne asks, referring to Chris’ two young children.

“Nah, just me - I’ve gotta take a bit of time off, we’re remodelling the workshop to get some new equipment installed and we can’t do much while that’s happening. Julie actually encouraged me to go have a break somewhere for a couple days instead of just hanging around the house,” Chris explains, “anyway, how’s your dating stuff going? You actually put some effort into it at all lately or still pining after Courtney?”

Shayne can’t help but laugh openly in response.

“I don’t know about effort, but… Court and I had a conversation about everything a couple of weeks ago and we’re together now. Like, for real, seriously dating. She’s actually with me right now, she can maybe hear most of what we’re saying, but- yeah. Not so much pining anymore,” Shayne explains, knowing his voice betrays the wide smile he has every time he talks about her like this.

“Oh that’s awesome Shayne, I’m so happy for you guys - and hi Courtney, if you can hear me - I’m guessing you’re being selective with who knows?”

“We aren’t going public yet, but we’re not hiding anything from friends, family, co-workers and whatever. But I haven’t told Brian or the parents yet so keep it quiet for a bit?”

“All good, gotcha.”

“I might let you go now, but we’ll talk again soon and plan you coming over this way?” Shayne prompts.

“Yeah, definitely. Talk to you soon.”

“See you.”

“Pining, hey?” Courtney teases when he sets the phone down, but Shayne just laughs and shakes his head, brushing it off.

“Come on, I’m assuming you’re staying over and you want to steal one of my shirts to sleep in?” Shayne prompts her to stand up from the couch.

“Smart boy, yes and yes,” she responds, following him into his room. “You got a spare toothbrush I can steal?”

“Yeah, I’ve got one in the cabinet under the sink,” he responds, “and take whatever you want from the dresser.”

“Gotta be the pizza place tee,” Courtney teases, pulling it off the top of the pile. She hesitates for a minute, before shrugging and starting to change. Shayne, for his part, wanders off to the bathroom as she does, although when he returns a few minutes later he hasn’t changed, and he doesn’t seem to think twice before pulling his top off. She stares a little, before slipping out of the room herself.

“You don’t have to stop staring,” he calls after, and she just laughs, opening up his cabinet and finding a toothbrush still in its packaging sitting at the front. 

“I get plenty of opportunity to look at your chest, idiot.”


	15. Chapter 12: Graduation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eventually I'll get to the point where AO3 gets updates one at a time like the other site but still catching up in lots of 5ish, I guess!

They have a few months without any incident that comes close to revealing their changed status, and it’s nice. Smosh doesn’t do a Summer break officially – even though Mythical offer it to them during their own Summer break – but their writing and shooting schedule settles down a bit for the five weeks from mid-June through to mid-July where all they’re posting is their pre-recorded Summer Games videos, and Shayne and Courtney spend most of their scattered days off through that period together. They’ve inadvertently settled on her apartment as their preferred location – it’s larger, closer to work, closer to a better gym. They don’t make a big deal out of it, but she gives him a drawer in her closet, and there’s a tub of his protein powder in her kitchen and a growing selection of books in her bookcase that she’s never seen before.

Shayne accompanies her to a chill lunch at her Dad’s place with a couple other siblings and one of their families – plus Kari – in late June. It’s not the first time he’s met any of her immediate family, although it’s the first time he’s met any of her siblings’ families, and it’s the first time he spends time with one of her parents as her boyfriend. Courtney’s Dad is a very relaxed person, though, and he seems to let their altered relationship dynamic slide with little comment, instead capturing Shayne to talk football because none of Courtney’s brothers are as into it as both Shayne and he are.

“He fits in well,” Kari tells Courtney, glancing over towards where Shayne is locked into an emphatic conversation with their Dad not long after they finish lunch.

“I wonder if any of us will ever end up with someone who isn’t blonde,” Courtney laughs, shaking off Kari’s deeper meaning. She knows Kari is still trying to make up for the rough start, but it’s not exactly what she wants to focus on.

“I mean, I’m hooking up with a redhead at the moment,” she admits, “it is definitely not a long-term meet the family deal, though. Also, he’s kinda strawberry blonde.”

“Of course you are,” Courtney grins, “is this one of your crystal hippie guys?”

“No, actually, he’s a goddamn accountant – I mean, he has crystals at his place, but he’s only low key into it. Good in bed though,” she muses, Courtney shaking her head.

“Whatever’s important to you, I guess. For a while there I wished I could be as chill about dating as you are.”

“Is Shayne-“

“Stop. Still not talking about it,” Courtney cuts her off, immediately, before she even asks.

“Really? You won’t say anything at all, not even just if it’s good?” Kari pushes, and Courtney sighs.

“Look, okay, I- I don’t know. It’s different with him. I’m not just hooking up with someone, there is a lot more intimacy and vulnerability inbuilt and it makes everything a lot more… private. It also does mean it’s just, yeah, the best. It’s not like I’m skimping on detail because of what it is, it’s just a different kind of relationship,” she explains, and Kari nods.

“I guess that makes sense, I don’t know, I’ve never really had a relationship like that. And I mean, I don’t entirely know I want that for myself, honestly – but I’m glad you’ve got that, because you seem really happy.”

“I am,” Courtney bites her lip, glancing over at him. He looks up to meet her eyes at the same time, and Kari laughs, noticing their interaction.

“Go on, go hang out with your boyf. I’m going to play with the kids.”

————————————————

The graduation video had been her idea way back in April – she’d been hanging out at his place one Saturday afternoon doing her own thing while he studied, and they’d fallen into a conversation about how close he was to finally having his degree. He had a Goldbergs shoot that kept him out of the office the following Monday, so she took the idea to the producers’ team immediately, and everyone was on board.

Still – she did most of the preparations. She let the producers handle the video details side of it, but after he passed his two finals and confirmed he was eligible to graduate in late June, she took responsibility for contacting everyone that was invited, for planning how the surprise would be managed and the setup organised without him finding out, and organising the mini after party they were having. Damien was her major co-conspirator, and two days before the surprise was to happen one of their first filming days back after their break-of-sorts, she sighed in clear indication she wanted to say something as they stood on one of the sets going over some last details, Shayne distracted across the other side of the office in a writing meeting.

“I’m increasingly worried about this whole… thing,” Courtney admits, and Damien raises an eyebrow.

“Worried how?”

“It would be weird if I wasn’t up on the stage and I didn’t say something in the video, but I don’t fucking know what to say, because I can’t be genuine now without revealing everything. I think I’m going to have to intentionally write something bad, which I kind of hate, because I didn’t exactly do this for no reason. I’m super proud of him for going through with this and getting his degree but I just… don’t know how to say that without it being obvious how much I feel for him,” she rambles, head bowing when she finishes.

“Yeah, I get that you’re in a tough spot there,” Damien sympathises, “If you write something just totally littered with jokes for the video I can always have a look through it beforehand to see how it comes across to someone else?”

“Yeah, I might take you up on that.”

She does just that, and Damien gives her planned speech the all-clear a few hours before the surprise is due to happen. They sneak everyone into the building with no issues, Shayne buried in his work all morning. The set-up goes flawlessly, and he falls for the planned meeting trick immediately, but she’s close to shitting herself in fear. She tries to step into her organiser persona as she instructs everyone what to do as he approaches, but she very quickly falls back into the crowd on the stage, intentionally, hoping he doesn’t meet her eyes when she watches him walk in and have a graduation gown thrown on him. He does, briefly, and she gives a quick flash of a genuine smile with her true emotions, knowing the camera is on him and not her, before schooling her features and falling into acting mode.

She cries a little at how shocked and speechless he is, at how goddamn _adorable_ he looks trying to work out why everyone is here celebrating him, but Damien and a few of his friends they invited are teary too so she hopes she doesn’t stand out.

Her speech is awkward, she can’t deny that. She takes comfort in the fact that every single person in the room knows she’s having to put on a persona of not being his girlfriend for the sake of the cameras, but she is quietly glad when she gets to sit down and just watch everyone else speak, watch him get teary and not know how to deal with so many people putting the spotlight on him. For someone who constantly screams for attention, he’s not the best at accepting praise.

The main video cuts after Sarah tells him there’s a legit afterparty and they all move into the more social portion of his prank, but there’s still cameras around. She tries to meet his eye across the crowd, but she settles into conversation with Damien instead, finding Shayne with a camera pointed at him almost every time she sees him. Courtney hears Ian tell him – on camera – that she’s responsible for pretty much everything, and she watches him glance across and meet her eyes a moment later. She can see the appreciation and understanding as to why she’s staying away for now, and it comforts her.

“You are amazing,” he tells her, almost the second cut is called on the shooting cameras for good and everyone moves into the actual party portion, not just mingling in the studio. He pulls her into a tight hug, placing a kiss on her cheek as he pulls back slightly, hands still looped around her waist.

“I know I didn’t say it up there, but I’m so proud of you and I love you so much. You did an awesome job sticking this degree through to the end. You deserved someone to give you a little recognition for once,” she replies, and he smiles sweetly, blushing slightly.

“Thank you. I love you too, even though you made me cry on camera. I know I’m bad at accepting this stuff, but this is the coolest thing someone has done for me for a really long time and I’m- yeah, thank you,” he finishes, and she pulls him into a tight hug again, pressing a chaste kiss against his lips before she reluctantly separates from him and they both return to the party. They stick close together after that, though, and she knows they’re a little bit too close in some of the photos people take on their own phones but – whatever. They can trust everyone here, probably, and Damien is the only one with the photo where he’s pressing his lips against her cheek.


	16. Chapter 13: Parents

She meets his parents for the first time a few weeks later, and she’s terrified, because she’s met his brothers before but never his parents. She can tell they like her immediately, though, and she settles into easy conversation with his Mum about their recent move to Thousand Oaks, not far from where she had grown up. His Dad is a little more reserved, but Shayne had pre-warned her that he’s just like that in general.

“How many siblings do you have?” His Dad pipes up, a rare direct question, when she mentions something about exploring one of the trails near their place with her brothers when she was younger.

“Six,” she answers, nodding, not sure what to add.

“Big family! Are they all still around LA?” His mother adds, and she shakes her head.

“No, there’s a few step-siblings in there too, only a couple of direct siblings – my Mom is in Utah, my closest sister Kari and my Dad both live around here so I see them pretty often, couple others are in the greater Southern California area but generally we’re all over the place. Do you see Chris and Brian much, with them being interstate and all?” Courtney turns the conversation back on them, carefully, and it seems to bring Shayne’s Dad in more.

“Not as often as we’d like to, actually. Brian is busy, he isn’t around much – we considered moving up to Washington to be closer to Chris and Julie and his kids, but all our life is here,” he answers her, and she nods.

“I’ll have to meet Julie and these boys someday, I’ve spent a bit of time with Chris over the years when he’s around, he’s popped in to work a few times when he’s been visiting Shayne and all – but haven’t met these kids yet and they sound lovely,” she muses, and his mother nods.

“The kids absolutely hate flying, it’s why they’re never down here,” Shayne explains, and she nods.

“Yeah, I don’t see a lot of my nieces and nephews much for similar reasons, other than when I head over to Utah, but that’s only once a year or so.”

They have a quite nice dinner amongst their casual conversation, and as much as Shayne and Courtney both protest, his Dad pays the cheque and refuses to let them throw anything in. They’re all parked in the same direction away from the restaurant so they walk out together, and Shayne’s Dad pulls him back to walk with him, so Courtney falls into step beside his mother.

“I’m glad to finally meet you, I’ve heard a lot about you for quite a while. I’m glad I’ve met you as his girlfriend, not just his friend, too,” she says, warmly, and Courtney smiles, nodding.

“I’m not entirely sure why we haven’t met before, he’s met most of my family ages ago and I met Chris way back, but yeah. It’s good to finally meet you both. I think I got the parental approval, yeah?” She throws in a joke, and his mother laughs.

“Of course, I’ve been waiting for you two to get together for a while. I trust his judgment, anyway – Shayne’s a smart boy. As much as Brian is the one who went off the standard college and corporate path and Shayne ran away from school to pursue comedy acting…” she trails off, and Courtney grins.

“Hey, it took him a while, but he ended up with a degree somehow too.”

“That he did, somehow. I almost expected him to drop out at some point and it wouldn’t have been irresponsible at all, especially when he got the regular thing with Goldbergs and Smosh at the same time, but I guess it makes sense he stuck with it. He commits,” she muses, “and I don’t mean that to be a subtle relationship comment, actually.”

“All good,” Courtney laughs, “I know you guys know we aren’t exactly just casually dating. And I mean, my sister quizzed him pretty hard just after we got together.”

“Kari, yeah?” she confirms, Courtney nodding in affirmation. “He mentioned that. He also gave us both a stern warning not to bug you, but wasn’t planning on it, anyway. That’s your business, not ours.”

“Thanks,” Courtney answers, not sure what else to say. They reach Shayne’s parents car, then, and they pause, looking back to see the two men slowly catching up to them.

“Well, thank you for inviting us, it was great to meet you Courtney – I’m sure we’ll see each other again sometime in the not too distant future?” His Dad tells her, when they reach them, and she nods.

“Yeah, it was nice to finally meet you both.”

Shayne says his goodbyes to both his parents, and part of her expects it, but Courtney is still a little taken aback and takes a second to react when his mother pulls her in for a brief hug.

“Well, I don’t think my mother has ever hugged someone she’s just met before,” Shayne comments as they walk the slightly further distance to his car, arm wrapped around her waist.

“You all good with your extended talk with your Dad back there?” she asks, and he nods.

“Yeah. He likes you, you’re officially welcome at any Topp family thing ever. He was mostly talking to me about something else though, when Brian graduated college they gave him a stack of money, and he needed it at the time to move over to New York but- he brought it up because they don’t want me to think they see me graduating as any lesser, but I’m resisting it because I don’t exactly need it,” he admits, and she nods.

“Your mother and I actually talked about your graduation too, although mostly that you’re a smart boy and we’re both impressed you went through with everything,” she explains.

“She doesn’t watch much of our Smosh content because she isn’t exactly the intended audience so she doesn’t get a lot of it, but I sent her the graduation video when it came out the other day and told her you were a much bigger part of it than was evident because we’re still hiding things, she was pretty impressed with your ability to make me cry like that.”

“I’ll chalk it up as one of my many talents,” she teases, stepping away from him to slide into the car.

“I know this is weird since I’m driving, but can we just go back to your place?” Shayne asks, as he turns the key in the ignition.

“Yeah, course,” Courtney answers, twisting in her seat so she can watch him drive.


	17. Chapter 14: Okay With It

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Without spoiling anything, some of the Smosh people take on incorrect roles to what their actual roles are at various points in this fic, but we can just let that slide. Also, this chap is the start of a section of the fic I quite like, tbh, so I hope you do too!

They have their biggest slip-up ever on a Smoshcast recording in September, just shy of their 4-month anniversary. It’s a very loosely planned episode of the podcast with just Courtney, Shayne and Ian. Ian is bitching about his coffee not long after they’ve started recording – as he often is –, and Shayne jumps in with a story about his own coffee press screwing up on him. It would be fine, except Courtney is a character in the story, and they all talk for a good four minutes working under the assumption that yes of _course_ Courtney shares a bed with Shayne and stays over at his house and he makes coffee for her in the morning to try and drag her out of sleep, and-

“Uh, guys?” Kevin pipes up, their Smoshcast producer for the day, when Shayne pauses for a second and before Ian has a chance to interject. Their eyes all shoot to him – it’s rare for one of the guys taking supporting roles on sound or producing to say anything while they’re recording the podcast, it’s usually a straight-through conversation – “Unless this is your way of going public, Shayne and Courtney, we might need to redo those last few minutes.”

“Oh, fuck,” Shayne mutters, burying his face in his hands. “Shit, sorry guys,” he adds, lifting his face back up and running a hand through his hair.

“Hey, none of us picked up on it,” Courtney reassures him, hand momentarily resting against his thigh under the table before she shifts back to recording mode.

“Yeah, all good guys, we’ll just start from my favourite coffee again,” Ian confirms, and they carry on, this time without any stories which feature Shayne and Courtney in domestic bliss.

It’s their lunch break after they finish, and Shayne doesn’t say anything after they cut, walking silently behind Ian and Courtney through to the kitchen, grabbing the lunch he’d made himself at Courtney’s earlier in the morning out of the fridge and silently taking a seat at one of the stools along the benchtop, two seats down from a couple of their writers.

“Hey, Shayne,” Courtney says, softly, taking a seat beside him a moment later with her own lunch. Ian goes to sit beside them, but he glances between both of them, before moving off to join the group of writers further away from them.

“I’m just… so pissed at myself for slipping up so badly. And yeah, we all went with it, but I just… didn’t think about it. I should be better than that, I mean, what if I fuck up like that in one of the live shows coming up? I don’t want to screw this up for us,” he rants, squeezing his eyes shut as he lets himself lean sideways, leg pressing against hers.

“Shayne, it’s fine, okay? We caught it, and it’s fine. I don’t blame you at all – it’s really hard with the podcast, because it is us being ourselves and talking about our lives, and yeah, our lives are now intertwined to the point that it’s difficult to talk about anything without letting anything on. The live shows we’re doing are all try not to laugh and sketch stuff – it’s not going to be particularly risky there, and just because you’ve slipped up once doesn’t mean you’re going to keep doing it,” she reassures, pushing her lunch to the side so she can rest her chin on her palm, moving closer to him.

“I guess,” he sighs, reluctantly looking up and meeting her eyes. “My neighbour made a comment the other day that he thought I’d moved out because he hasn’t seen me around for so long. I told him I’d just been at work a lot, but I- yeah. It scared me. The last thing I want to do is spend less time with you, I guess we just need to get better at- being aware of things, I guess.”

“Or…” she sighs, not sure if she should even suggest it yet. He meets her eyes directly again, waiting for her to continue, and it makes her realise he already knows what she’s going to say. “Or we start thinking about going public.”

“I don’t think this is a conversation we have over lunch at work, but yeah, I’m with you. And I think – it’s tied to some other things, too. Like, maybe, our living situation,” he admits, and Courtney nods, smiling softly.

“We’ll talk about it tonight, yeah?”

“Yeah,” he answers, pressing a kiss against her cheek before he finally moves to actually eat his lunch.

They have an Eat It or Yeet It shoot after lunch, but for the first time in the show’s history, Shayne isn’t involved – he’s glad, truly, because he always ends up with godawful food on that show and he’s a little more aware of keeping his breath clean now he’s regularly making out with someone, but it doesn’t leave him much to do with his afternoon.

“You can just leave, you know,” Sarah tells him as he flicks through his phone sitting at his desk, but he shakes his head.

“Staying with Courtney at the moment. Gotta wait for her, but I’ll find somewhere else to do nothing if I’m distracting you,” he offers.

“Nah, all good. Actually, I’ve got a few EBEs from the writers sitting here that need reviewing, you cool if I send them over?”

He accepts, happy to scroll through the scripts as he waits. He doesn’t have many notes on any of them, but it passes the time until everyone runs back in from the shoot, a slightly ashamed Garret followed by Ian, Olivia, Mari and Noah emphatically talking about how bad the food was, Damien desperately trying to convince them it wasn’t that bad. Courtney bounds in behind them, laughing at Damien before she heads straight for Shayne, hands resting on his shoulders as she leans against the back of his chair.

“You should’ve been on that one, Shayne, there was snails! I’ve been trying to get you to try them forever!” Damien enthuses, before Courtney can say anything, and he rapidly shakes his head.

“No, Damien! You’re so weird!” He pushes himself to reply enthusiastically, letting his head fall back and rest against Courtney’s chest behind him. Olivia and Keith quickly back him up, and he lets himself be pulled into their conversation for a few minutes.

“You want to head home soon?” Courtney asks him, when the others disperse back to their own work, and he nods.

“Yeah, I’m ready to go whenever.”

They say a quick goodbye to a few people around the office, Courtney taking his hand and leading him out of the building to her car. He falls back into contemplative silence when they leave, but the air between them isn’t uncomfortable. He’s nervous, truthfully – he doesn’t automatically know where she stands on either thing they’re planning on discussing, and they’re both kind of big things. Still, she grips his hand on the console when she can as she drives back to her place, and he smiles in her presence.

He grabs her house keys from her as she locks her car, unlocking the door and holding it open for her before he steps in after her and takes off his shoes, immediately shifting them out of the way into the bedroom.

They curl up on the couch together, Courtney leaning against one end as Shayne shifts sideways so he can lean his head against her shoulder, hands wrapping around her waist. He isn’t quite sure where to start, but he knows he wants to talk, like, immediately. He just can’t… start.

“Do you want to move in with me, here?” Courtney asks, after a moment of silence, and he can’t help but smile and shift slightly so he can look up and meet her eyes.

“Yeah. I want to live with you, I’m- I was kind of scared to bring it up because I know it’d be here, not my place, and I didn’t know if you’d think it was… right to do that yet, but. Yeah,” he replies, and she nods.

“You’re here more often than not now anyway, and I quite like waking up beside you every morning,” Courtney admits, “I’ll get another key cut soon, but just… yeah. You’re welcome here at whatever pace you want to come here.”

“I’m glad we’re on the same page there. That one was… easy,” he laughs, a little anxiously, and the smile she gives him in response tells him she knows exactly what he wasn’t saying.

“Yeah, our other one is a little more… complicated?” she offers, shaking her head. “What do you think? Where are you at with it?”

“Well, I… Today isn’t the first time I’ve thought about it in the last little while, yeah. I still have reservations about it – I like how we are now; I like how we get to just be relaxed and comfortable and private. But I’m also increasingly… it’s not just like, oh, it’s annoying to have to edit you out of any story I tell on camera about my life. It kinda hurts too, because you are so important to me and I don’t like pretending you aren’t. I don’t think I want to be particularly all over you on camera ever and privacy is still nice, but I don’t want it to be a big deal if one of us lets a pet name slip or we’re kinda touchy or we talk about something that we were both involved in,” he finishes, hesitating before adding, “and if we do go public, I want to make it clear that we’re serious.”

“I’m… yeah, I’m getting increasingly uncomfortable with how much we have to actively remove our reality from what we film. I… also do still worry, though. I don’t think we can predict what the response will be. If other YouTube couples are anything to go by, we will get some people being very direct and rude, both in the against our relationship sense and way too pro-our relationship too, and that terrifies me. I… think we’re strong enough to deal with it, but I don’t know if I am myself without becoming an anxious mess. But I also don’t know how much longer I want to deal with where we are now, either.”

“The reaction scares me too. It’s so unpredictable, and I know there’s not a whole lot we can do about it – but I think we can deal with it. I know our relationship can – and I think you can, and I can, too, and I’m here for you no matter what- but of course we’re absolutely not going to say anything until both of us are completely ready to do so,” he reassures her, “and I’m not entirely sure just yet, but I’m… getting closer.”

“I think I’m the same, I haven’t… I don’t think I’ve put as much thought into it as you yet, but it’s becoming a recurring thing. I don’t know how we’d go public, I don’t know when, but it’s seeming more and more like something that will happen… sooner. Not some unknown distance into the future,” she agrees, and he nods.

“I don’t think time is what’s going to make me more certain about it anymore, I think it’s talking to you about it. Like… when we do go public, what does that actually look like? What changes? I don’t think it’s actually that much, but – it’s something, yeah?” he asks.

“Yeah, I think it’s… well, we could’ve just kept going with our conversation today, because I think it’d mean we’d be okay to tell stories that imply we live together. I think that would be the biggest thing – admitting how much we’re part of each other’s lives,” she muses.

“Definitely. Would it also – like, would we just stop… filtering, I guess? Act how we normally would in front of an audience of sorts, whatever that brings with it, with mild flirting and pet names and whatever to… some extent, but not as far as we go with our closest friends?” He suggests.

“Yeah, I think that’s good. As you said – I still want to keep a little private. The internet doesn’t need to know everything, but I’m happy for the internet to know I love you a whole lot. And I’m certain enough in everything between us that even if there’s some people being kinda weird about it, we can just tune them out, because it’s not about them. It’s our relationship, we get to choose what happens within it,” she answers, stronger this time, and he nods in agreement, twisting so he is more decidedly facing her.

“Yeah, we do. And I think we have to accept – there will be pressure, and maybe one of us will occasionally see something we don’t like, or that brings up something, but we gotta be open and honest with each other about it. That’s… it’s why everything has been so smooth so far because we talk so much, and as long as we keep that up which I’m sure we will, we’ll be fine. We can do this, we can do anything together,” Shayne nods in emphasis, and her wide smile makes his heart swell in happiness.

“Yeah. We’re in this together, of course it will be fine,” she confirms, leaning forward to press a kiss against the corner of his mouth, “I think I’ve talked myself into being okay with it.”

“I think I have too,” he admits, shifting again to press against her side, “although we still need to work out _how_ and _when_. I don’t- I don’t think we’ll be ready to rush into filming something and putting it out next week, I want to put more thought into it than that, but I have been quietly analysing how I want to do it for a while.”

“What are the options you’ve analysed?” she prompts.

“Smoshcast is the obvious one – straight-up talk about it. I think it’s the one that leaves us the most exposed, but it’d also be the easiest way to make sure we very clearly control what is said and that it’s seen appropriately seriously,” he starts, “but I also kind of like our joke from way back when we first started dating about just- half-mentioning it as part of a joke in a Games video or something on Pit and just running with it. It’d be a little more casual, which I guess is a good thing in some ways and bad in others.”

“I wonder if we could combine the two? Have the actual reveal in like, a Tuesday pit video, and then talk about it a little in the Smoshcast released the next day?” she suggests, and he tilts his head.

“I hadn’t thought of that, might be interesting, actually. I mean- us fighting each other both physically and verbally and me making jokes about you isn’t going to stop, and there’s probably going to be joke material directly from our relationship. I don’t want it to be all serious, but I want to make it clear that we are serious, if that makes sense?”

“Oh, definitely. I’m still roasting your ass, baby,” Courtney laughs, pulling him tighter against her, “so… are we in a position where we start a conversation about this with Sarah?”

“I think we are. Sarah and Ian first, and then we might have to expand a little more. When are we going to talk to them?”

“Not tomorrow,” Courtney answers, immediately, “we’re shooting sketches all day, its’s not really the time. But… Thursday? If I’m remembering correctly, the only shoot we have then is the one with the Try Guys in the afternoon.”

“Okay. We’re doing this. We’ll talk to them Thursday,” Shayne confirms, grinning, “I- I was still so hesitant earlier today but talking it through like this I just… I’m kind of excited.”

“Same, baby, same,” she answers, pressing a long kiss against his cheek.


	18. Chapter 15: What I Think It Is?

“Hey, Sarah,” Courtney pulls her aside early the next morning, when the office is mostly empty, everyone off preparing for their run of sketch shoots all day. There’s a couple of school scenes, and their school set is one of the most extensive to set up, plus they need more extras than usual.

“Yeah?” Sarah prompts.

“Can I schedule a meeting for tomorrow morning sometime, you and Ian, Shayne and I?” she requests, and Sarah raises an eyebrow.

“Is this about what I think it is?” She queries.

“If you think it’s Shayne and I going public, then yes. It’s- we just decided last night, and we’re not in a rush, but we want to set something in motion,” Courtney explains, quietly, “but keep it quiet, we want to be clear on what we’re going to do before we tell everyone.”

“Of course, of course. I’ll check my calendar and send you all an email with a time,” she confirms, Courtney nodding before she rushes off to join her castmates in wardrobe.

Neither Courtney nor Shayne check their emails until they’re back at Courtney’s – their – place later in the evening, but when they do, they have a meeting request from Sarah for 10am the next morning – bright and early, given they’re rarely in the office before then.

“I think I’m gonna get up early and do a stress-prevention gym sesh tomorrow morning if we’re going to be out of here relatively early for that, you wanna come?” he asks, over their dinner – he cooked an omelette, and Courtney would never complain about breakfast for dinner – and she nods in confirmation.

————————————————

“Wait, what is this meeting? I’m right in thinking there was no information whatsoever about what it is and it’s totally not on me I didn’t prepare, yeah?” Ian asks, when he wanders into one of the more private meeting rooms a little further away from the main office at a few minutes to ten, Sarah, Shayne and Courtney already in there talking.

“You’re good, Ian,” Shayne laughs, “for once.”

“Hey, are you ever prepared?” he shoots back.

“Usually he is, actually,” Sarah answers, grinning, before they all settle into the chairs around the table.

“No, but really, why are we here?” Ian pushes, glancing around the table to see Sarah’s assorted stack of documents and very little from the other two.

“You’re not very observant, are you?” Courtney jokes, “it’s a meeting with you, Sarah, and the two of us. What do you think it’s about?”

“Ohhhhh,” he answers, finally, although he doesn’t continue.

“We’ve decided we want to go public, and I guess we kind of assumed we’d do that through Smosh in some way or another,” Shayne explains, Ian nodding.

“I had a very brief chat to Courtney yesterday when she asked for this meeting, I understand we’re not rushing into anything, but we want to get some idea about how we’re going to do it, yeah?” Sarah prompts, the others nodding.

“Within reason, and I know you two will stay well within reason anyway, I’d be happy to sign off on whatever you two pick – it really needs to be up to you to decide how much you want to reveal and when. I do think we need to establish a kind of… well-known policy amongst both Smosh and Mythical of what about your relationship is going public and what isn’t, though, so everyone here is on the same page and we don’t have any accidental messes? I’m in no way wanting to dictate what you can and can’t say, but I just want to give you two as much control over it all as possible,” Ian explains.

“Yeah, Shayne and I have a vague idea of what we’re happy to have exist on camera and all that, but before it actually happens we might work out something firmer in that regard, I guess?” Courtney asks, glancing over to him for confirmation, Shayne nodding before slightly shifting the topic.

“I think what we want at the moment is to set some expectations for how it actually happens and maybe not an exact date but an idea of when. Courtney and I have talked a bit about how, but of course, you guys are the ones with control over what goes on the channels, so…” Shayne trails off.

“Are we thinking Smoshcast, Pit or Games? It doesn’t really fit into main, since main is all characters, but the other options you’re all playing yourselves, so it really fits anywhere there within reason,” Sarah says.

“We kind of- so, Smoshcast was our first thought, because it’s where we reveal things and talk about more personal stuff, and it gives us more space to be very clear about anything we need to be clear about. It’s also more serious, which is good, but it’s also… we don’t want our relationship to be put out of reach of our usual stupid joking stuff. To an extent, it’s fair game for all the silliness on Pit and the like, and doing a very casual reveal in the midst of an unrelated video on Pit would maybe make it less of a huge deal, with would be a positive for us,” Shayne explains, “Courtney actually had an idea-“

“Whether we do a combination of the two? I don’t know what video it’d be or how, but just a very casual ‘oh by the way’ thing in a Tuesday Pit video, and then a little chat about it in the next day’s Smoshcast?” she fills in for him, Ian and Sarah both nodding as they speak.

“Yeah, that does sound very doable – It feels like you’re going for a kind of natural reveal, almost like an intentional slip up type thing, in the Pit video?” Sarah prompts.

“Yeah, I think so, although it might have to be an at least somewhat scripted slip up,” Shayne answers.

“That definitely seems doable – we’d just have to work out what kind of video idea it fits best into. I don’t think it’s a try not to laugh, but something like one of the old squad vlogs where a few of us are just messing around with some concept?” Ian suggests. “With the podcast – who else would you want on there with you? I mean, you could do it literally just the two of you if you want, but it might be better with buffer.”

“I think Damien needs to be there,” Courtney starts, “maybe you Ian, Damien and us? I’d say Liv, but I know she doesn’t love being on that, and it gets a bit much with more than four people.”

“That sounds good to me, for the podcast. So – what happens now, guys? Do we try and plan a Pit video to specifically support this casually coming up somewhere in it, or do we look at our existing things and see where it falls?” Sarah queries.

“I think we look at what we’ve got already, which is your stack of papers there, correct?” Courtney asks, Sarah nodding.

They flick through their options for a few minutes, looking at their existing schedule for the next six weeks or so before they head off on their try not to laugh live tour. The next three weeks are out, because all the videos are already shot and in final production, but the couple of weeks after that look more promising.

“Ideally, I kind of want something that is released not too long after it’s shot, just from a personal anxiety point of view, although happy for you to overrule that, Court,” Shayne admits.

“No, yeah, I get that. What about… this week here? It looks like that Tuesday’s pit video is only being shot the Friday before, yeah?” she points at the Tuesday, just under 5 weeks on from where they are now. “What’s that video?”

“That week’s Smoshcast is definitely not planned yet, so that part is all good, and I think it’s… oh, it’s a sketch challenge one, draw characters from memory thing – think you could put something in that?” Sarah responds.

“I think we could,” Shayne answers, Courtney nodding.

————————————————

They finalise their plans a little more, and the following Monday, they let everyone know in their start-of-week meeting that it’s going to happen.

“Nothing yet – assume at this point that all videos are still pre-reveal, but soon,” Shayne reinforces, hand squeezing Courtney’s under the table as he does.

Courtney expects to be terrified when the shoot day for their reveal – and the Smoshcast where they’ll talk about everything – arrives a few of weeks later, but instead, she feels content. She says as much to Shayne, curled up against him in bed early the morning of – they had both woken up much earlier than usual – and he agrees, rubbing patterns along her arm with his thumb.

“I want it to happen, and I’m happy with how we’re doing it. No dramatic big stuff, just… being natural about it. I know it’s not actually happening until Tuesday, technically, but I’m already kind of relieved that I can stop over-analysing everything I say and do and trying to pretend we aren’t what we are,” he tells her, softly.

The call time for the shoot isn’t until 11, and they’re at work by 10, but they don’t get much done, instead messing around in the break room with Noah and Keith. Shayne makes a game out of throwing pens at the roof trying to get them to stick – it’s much harder with Mythical’s proper high ceilings than it was with the Defy office’s crappy drop ceiling – as he has been known to do, Noah and Keith somehow construct an arm-wrestling tournament between the two of them, and Courtney rotates between getting in the way of their tournament and poking Shayne in the arm.

“You coming, guys?” Damien sticks his head into the break room a bit before eleven, all four getting up and starting to walk to the studio they use for most Pit stuff. Olivia joins them, and they all go over the plan quickly as they walk. It’s a little weird to have a planned moment for a natural reveal within a largely unscripted video, but they all figure they can work with it. The plan is flexible, anyway – there’s no script, just an idea.


	19. Chapter 16: Unclaimed Red Marker

“Helloooo!” Olivia calls out the opening to the sketch, the others all making some kind of noise in response. “Today we’re doing this super fun thing, which Courtney is definitely not going to just win because she’s the only one of us that can draw-”

“Hey, I can draw, I just didn’t know Pokemon last time!” Keith interrupts her.

“Okay, well, we’re drawing characters from memory again, but this time it’s like, Disney-Pixar animated movie characters because we do actually all know those!”

“Oh, I don’t watch movies,” Noah buts in, straight-faced.

“That’s a complete lie,” Courtney calls him out, before they slide seamlessly into the first round of their competition, with Olivia as judge. She reads out the character – Buzz Lightyear – and they all rush to drawing. Damien and Keith fight over a blue marker, and Shayne makes a show out of leaning over Courtney’s shoulder to look at what she’s doing.

“I know you know what Buzz Lightyear looks like, idiot,” she tells him, pushing back against him to get him off her shoulder. He laughs and relents, but they stay pressed together. If they’re revealing in all of two or three minutes, why hide now?

“Okay, Damien and Keith lose for fighting over a colour that they didn’t even need,” Olivia tells them as soon as the buzzer goes off and she holds up the printout handed to her from off-camera. “Noah… pretty close, I guess?” she continues, as he holds up an angular but colour-correct estimate of the toy.

“Look, Shayne kept distracting me, but what I did get done is clearly right,” Courtney defends as she holds up her own drawing, an accurate torso and head with one arm and no legs. For his part, Shayne has gotten close but with way too many green stripes and pink instead of purple.

“Don’t blame me because you’re slow, baby,” he teases. It’s not part of their plan, it’s a genuine slip up – but hey, why not? None of the squad point it out, and she merely laughs and jabs him in the side as Olivia continues on with her judging duties.

“Okay, I think I gotta give it to Noah!” Olivia decides, and Courtney reaches down to give Shayne’s thigh a quick squeeze under the table while she figures the shot chosen will be of Noah up the other end of the table, acknowledging that his slip-up is okay.

“Okay, next one, I’m judging!” Shayne enthuses, making an excessively big deal out of grabbing the cards from in front of Olivia and flipping the top one over, pressing it against his chest as he side-eyes the rest of them, before quickly peering at it.

“Mrs Incredible/Elastigirl – go!” he calls, and the others all lunge for the red pen. Round two is their planned round – Courtney has to actually do well enough for Shayne to pick her, but she lets the others fight over red as she grabs the black marker closest to her and quickly throws down an outline of the superhero in question. She grabs the second unclaimed red marker fifteen seconds into the round, looking straight at the cameras as she does so, before she starts using it to fill in the details. Shayne nudges a yellow her way a little while later, as he peers over the other direction to Keith’s drawing-in-progress and makes a joke about the time running down, as if to distract them.

“Time’s up!” he calls twenty seconds later after a signal from behind the cameras, and he reaches over Courtney, pressing closer to her in the process, to take the print-out correct version of the character while Damien and Olivia try to pry the pen out of Keith’s hands to stop him from drawing after the time limit.

“Okay, so this is Mrs Incredible – Noah?” he asks, starting up the other end of the table as he settles back against the couch.

“Well, I took artistic liberty, because you see, Mrs Incredible’s superpower isn’t brute force or strength like Mr Incredible, it’s stretching, which is creative, so she definitely would approve of my choices-“ he holds up an admittedly almost-accurate version, albeit in lime green.

“Look, I’ll – I think I have to compare the others. Damien? At least a warm colour?” He pushes.

“You are in luck my friend, because I got the only red, and I have a very accurate Elastigirl!” he flips his paper, and as much as the colours are correct and there’s definitely a whole superhero on the page, she’s a whole lot more blocky than she should be, “just Elastigirl after she sits in the freezer around a bag of frozen peas for a while and ceases to be a functioning rubber band?” he adds, and they all laugh.

“So I- Pink is close to red, you know?” Keith supplies his short defence, a pretty decent pink-only face and torso with the Incredibles logo lopsidedly sprawled across it, and four lines jutting out as fake limbs.

“Keith, I don’t see real limbs!” Courtney accuses him.

“Hey, you said that didn’t matter last time!”

“It didn’t last time, but it totally does with her, that’s like her whole power, dude!”

Olivia’s drawing is somewhat of a non-event following the disaster of the other three, and they pass over it quickly, before Shayne turns to her.

“Court?”

“Okay, well, I have two reasons I gotta win,” she starts, flipping around her drawing, “firstly, mine is best. Second, girlfriend privileges,” she can feel her heart start thumping when she says it, but her voice stays level and positive.

“How did you get red?” Keith admonishes her, and she laughs.

“There were two red markers, if any of you had looked a little harder.”

“Okay, so I gotta judge, there were some – you all made some interesting arguments, to say the least…” he trails off, raising a judgmental eyebrow towards the camera, “but I think I gotta give it to Courtney, because really… I mean, look at these.” He gestures to all their drawings, still held up.

“Oh, girlfriend privileges didn’t come into it at all?” Damien pushes, Noah murmuring something that sounds a whole lot like “favouritism” under his breath. Their responses weren’t planned at all, but Courtney is quietly pleased someone picked it up.

“No, Courtney’s just clearly better,” Shayne defends himself, but he glances towards Courtney when he does, and she laughs, leaning heavily against his side.

“My turn to judge now, so you can all have a chance,” she moves the topic on, and they continue. She doesn’t award her point to Shayne – the character is Mater from cars, and he draws a disturbingly accurate potato with human eyes – but after some deliberation, she hands it to Damien. They cut the time limit for the subsequent three rounds to fit enough turns into the video, and it leaves less time for any direct references, although Shayne cheers particularly enthusiastically when she wins all three final rounds.

“Okay, guys, well just as I said – Courtney wins drawing again! Who’s the psychic now, Damien?” Olivia starts the outro.

“I’m not psychic!” He whines, before all eyes flick over to Shayne for the end card.

“Well, that was that – which of our drawings do you think was the best?” he prompts.

“Bonus points for any comment that isn’t about a certain ship!’” Courtney jumps in, and Shayne responds by wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“Make sure you subscribe guys, and click through for more Smosh content!” he finishes up the required ending, and they both know they’re smiling way too much as they do, but it’s fine.

“Cut!” Sarah calls, having come in to direct this particular video.

“Okay, wow, we filmed it,” Courtney says, letting herself collapse messily against Shayne.

“That came across pretty chill, guys, it should be good,” Keith tells them, and they nod.

“I think I almost had a heart attack when I said girlfriend privileges, please tell me it wasn’t obvious? I wasn’t scared beforehand, but hey, saying it was kind of a lot,” she admits, glancing towards one of their camera operators, Brendan, for confirmation.

“All good, not obvious at all,” he confirms, and she nods.

“How you doing, Shayne?”

“I think… relieved? Yeah, relieved. Also, sorry for my weird slip up earlier on? I guess it was a good video for me to do it, though,” he laughs, as they all stand up from the table and start wandering out of the set back towards their office space. They have a break before the Smoshcast shoot, and Noah and Keith offer to do the lunch run, taking orders from everyone who wants something and heading out to pick it up, doordash not showing a decent enough delivery time for them to go the lazy route.

“All go smoothly, still feeling good to do podcast after?” Ian asks them, wandering over to where they’re sitting in the large meeting space, a larger group having decided to co-opt it for lunch because a bunch of their crew were joining them.

“Yeah, all good,” Courtney answers, feeling Shayne nod behind her. They wouldn’t usually get quite this close during the workday, she’s pretty much sitting in his lap and his arms are wrapped around her, but today is an exception.

“I’m glad, I’ve gotta finish some stuff but see you guys in a bit!” he tells them, before leaving the room again.

“I love you,” Shayne whispers, just near her ear, and she can’t help but smile affectionately in response, even though she can see Damien and Olivia walking over to them.

“Love you too, baby. So much,” she replies, head quickly turning to speak to him softly before she again faces the front as the others reach them.

————————————————

They ease into the podcast with a conversation about a show they’ve all been watching, which merges into a not-ad ad for Ian’s damn coffee again, taking them a good ten minutes in without a mention of what they’re all kind of here for. Courtney can’t complain – they don’t want to talk about their relationship for an hour, that’s for sure, it’s just part of what they’ll talk about.

“Okay, I think after our video yesterday there’s something the fans will want us to talk about a little more than my favourite coffee,” Ian segues, and Shayne laughs.

“Whatever could you mean, Ian?” his voice is tinged with sarcasm.

“I think it’s the part where we stopped pretending we aren’t together,” Courtney muses, “but I could be wrong, because Noah’s lime green Mrs Incredible was ground-breaking.”

“We’re actually recording this a couple hours after shooting the sketch video, only a few days before you’ll all see them – well, see the Pit video and hear this – and as much as you guys didn’t want to make a big deal out of anything, this is kind of a little… quick thing to answer some likely questions and clear things up a little, yeah?” Ian prompts, Courtney glancing over to Shayne to indicate he can take the response.

“Yeah, pretty much. So- yeah, I guess, to actually say it: Courtney and I are dating, for real. Damien, stop gasping, you’ve known for months,” he finishes, Damien apologising for his interjection with a sarcastic laugh.

“For the sake of the audience – Damien and I do know, we’ve known since it started, but we’re going to throw some questions at them anyway, yeah? So, how long?” Ian asks.

“About five months,” Courtney answers, leaving out that the Smoshcast will go up literally the day before their five-month anniversary, “so no, we haven’t been dating forever and just lying to everyone about it, it is… a little more recent, I guess.”

“Recent, but a long time coming, so you’re not all totally wrong,” Shayne admits.

“So why are you going public now?” Damien supplies, “because I mean, you guys have been pretty serious since day 1, yeah?”

“Yeah, we have, but we just wanted to… settle into what dating meant for us before we said anything. I’m sure we’re going to have more people being positive than negative about this, which is nice, but it’s a lot of pressure to have a whole heap of people be very, very interested in your relationship. And I mean, we’ve all seen people be absolutely trashed by shipping wars and attack comments and the like – it’s daunting to open ourselves up with no knowledge of what’s going to get thrown back at us, and we had to make sure we were ready to deal with that,” Courtney answers.

“This isn’t just a casual thing. We’re in this for the long term, I’m- yeah, super in love with Courtney and it’s been increasingly hard for us to switch off the newer parts of our dynamic for videos when we’ve otherwise been fairly open about everything,” Shayne adds, hesitantly reaching out across the table and taking her hand. “We always knew we’d go public eventually, and now has just become… the right time for us to go for it.”

“Yeah, you do not know how many damn times we’ve had to cut a video because one of us used a pet name or got a little too close or something- hell, Shayne’s little slip up a couple of minutes into that sketch video was totally unplanned, but we ran with it this time,” Courtney supplements him as she lets their hands twist together, “also, I’m super in love with Shayne too, will just put that out there.” She glances over and meets his eyes when she says it, not able to help herself. She guesses they may as well give a couple of more direct things for the video version of the podcast.

“So why do the reveal on that video, instead of just this?” Ian queries.

“As you said earlier – we don’t really want to make a huge deal about it. For the most part, not much is going to change. I mean, for one, because we’ve always been a little bit sketchy in videos…” Shayne trails off.

“Yup,” she agrees, “but like, we’re also going to stay pretty low key. We want to keep most aspects of our relationship private – we’re not going to be posting about it everywhere all the time, and there won’t be much as direct as this either. But, we might feature a little more regularly in stories we tell about what we’re doing with our lives, and we’re not going to actively try not to look like we’re together in videos like we’ve been doing for the last little while.”

“Also, part of the reason we went for the Pit reveal instead of here – our relationship is not the slightest bit off limits for making fun of in videos. The whole squad roasts the hell out of each other for absolutely everything, and this might be part of it, although I’m not sure how I can make a pizza place joke out of this,” Shayne adds, and Courtney laughs.

“I’m your favourite pizza place?” she offers.

“With your whole pineapple and jalapeno thing you put on all your pizzas? Definitely not,” he replies, and it causes all four of them to laugh.

“So, one thing you mentioned was what parts of the video today were planned – so, we don’t exactly _plan_ anything in Pit videos usually, like winners and things, I just wanted to clarify,” Ian adds in.

“Yeah, definitely,” Courtney answers, “and we didn’t exactly script anything that happened in that video either, but we did loosely plan that I would make some kind of comment during that second round. We had to set this up a little bit, so it was all agreed on and everyone knew it wasn’t a cut and reshoot thing this time.”

“Can I just butt in before we move on?” Damien pipes up, when they all move to transition away from discussing their relationship, continuing when Shayne gives him a nod, “So, yeah, seriously, everyone listening and watching and the like – please don’t bug them about this. I was super excited, too, because like – you’re both my best friends, sorry Shayne, and you’re both so happy with this and it’s just, really great. And I think it’s good that you’re going public, because I know editing your relationship out of existence was kinda sucky for both of you, and the rest of us too, honestly. But the thing is, guys, and I’m talking to you listeners – it’s not _our_ relationship, it’s theirs. It’s up to them to decide how much they share, and we can’t push them and it’s not anyone else’s role to give opinions on how they handle anything,” Damien explains, and Shayne nods.

“Thanks, Dames,” Courtney answers, and they cut the segment there to allow to throw to a commercial.

Their conversation moves on, then, to cover a weird experience Damien had at a restaurant recently, a strange hike Ian went on the previous weekend, and Shayne’s post-graduation reflections. Their hands stay linked the whole time, though, almost absentmindedly.

“By the way – I haven’t watched it for fear of crying again, but did the bit about Courtney doing most of the planning and prep for that surprise get into the graduation video?” Shayne asks, as they draw near to the close of the podcast.

“Yeah, it did,” Ian confirms, “It was very much Courtney’s idea, although before they got together.”

“Okay, actually, can I defend myself around that video?” Courtney requests, Ian nodding, “okay, so my speech was shit and super awkward, I know that. Basically, what happened – I had this idea and we started planning it behind Shayne’s back before we got together, a couple months before he graduated. But by the time he did pass his finals and we were filming the video, we were together, and I had to somehow say something without saying anything. It was a weird shoot, I had to kind of let Damien do the genuine thing,” she explains.

“We don’t have to do anymore of that, now. No more over-analysing everything we say to each other,” Shayne grins, and she nods.

“Indeed. Now, I believe it is time for a shoot dood!” Courtney prompts the ending segment of their podcast.


	20. Chapter 17: Positivity

They try to forget about what they’ve filmed over the weekend, going about their usual routines. On Monday Shayne has a Goldbergs shoot, and the rest of them film a try not to laugh without him, which is weird, to say the least. 

“How you feeling?” Damien asks Courtney when they’re back in the office later Monday afternoon, and he doesn’t need to elaborate on what he’s referring to.

“I don’t know,” she admits, “I’m nervous, I guess, but I kind of just want to get it over with, and part of me doesn’t even really care because I know I’m not going to look at any of the reaction if I can help it. I gotta chat to Tommy about what part of the video is going to go on the Smosh snap story and whatever because I usually share those but you know...” she trails off.

“Do you know how he is?” Damien asks again, and Courtney nods.

“He was pretty anxious this morning, but we both think he’ll be okay by tonight. I think the anticipation is what’s getting to us. It’ll be fine when it’s done,” she replies, and Damien nods.

“I’m sure you guys will be fine hiding out at your place when it drops, but if I can do anything to help, even if it’s filtering through the response to give you a bit of an idea or whatever, let me know.”

“Thanks, Damien. Oh, totally unrelated, but Shayne found a game he borrowed from you a while back when we were cleaning out the last stuff at his old place this weekend,” she suddenly remembers, quickly moving over to her own desk to pull it out of her bag and hand it back to him.

“Oh, wow, he took that years ago, but thanks,” Damien laughs, “tell him I’m still keeping custody of his Pokémon cartridge until he actually owns a system that can play it, though.”

“Wait, which console was this?”

“GameBoy Colour, he’s only got the original-“

“I’ve got a Colour,” Courtney grins, “and since he lives with me now... I think you gotta hand over that cartridge.”

“Oh, no, so much for holding that over him,” Damien laughs, “think you could keep it quiet and give me a few days so I can fuck with him a little?”

“Sure, that sounds entertaining. Anyway, I better go find Tommy,” she replies, before turning over towards the editing room.

She finds Tommy at his usual spot, Ian hovering over his shoulder and looking at something. 

“Hey guys, whatcha looking at?” She asks, grabbing their attention. 

“Oh, Courtney, good timing - we’re just cutting the snap story and post for tomorrow’s video promo. Basically - do we include your thing in the promo or not?”

“I mean, it’ll push up the click through,” she muses, “show me the options?”

The first one is a cut of some of their weirder explanations - Noah’s creatively inspired green Mrs Incredible, Shayne’s potato with eyes, the blue sad face Keith had drawn instead of Riley from Inside Out with the explanation “that’s the movie with the emotions, right?”

The second is much the same, but Shayne’s potato is replaced with her claim of girlfriend privileges. She tilts her head to the side, processing for a moment. 

“I don’t actually think the second one cuts together as well,” Ian admits, “and what you’re comfortable with is more important than click through this time. Look - it’s going to get out no matter what.”

“Yeah, I think to keep it with the casualness we were going for, the first one,” she confirms, and Tommy nods. 

“Great, that’s done then. You guys going to have a fun celebratory hide for the last time tonight?” He jokes, and Courtney shakes her head.

“We have a date with Cuphead, we’ve been stuck on this level for a week and we almost beat it last night, so this has gotta be the one,” she answers, honestly.

“So domestic,” Ian teases.

————————————————

She’s right - they beat the level on their second try after they have dinner. It’s gratifying to finally do it, but they don’t really have much desire to keep playing afterwards, because it would ruin the satisfaction of competing the previous level. They go to bed early, figuring they’ll be up early, but they both find themselves tossing and turning, unable to get to sleep in the first place.

“I’m too tense to sleep but I’m not even that worried, I’m just tense because I’m waiting,” Shayne mumbles as it nears midnight, face buried against a pillow as he lies flat on his stomach, one arm stretched out to graze against whichever part of her he lands on.

“I don’t even know why I can’t sleep, I’m just... yeah,” she responds, sighing, shifting again to wedge herself half-under his side in a position she knows won’t help either of them sleep. He throws a mildly suggestive comment her way a few minutes later, and she jumps at it, letting them mess around for a little while to dissipate at least some of their worries. She turns and presses back against him after they finish as he wraps an arm around her waist, and finally, they fall asleep.

They go to the gym early morning, as has become their routine. The gym is almost empty this morning, just one woman on a treadmill across the room and a guy running laps of the balcony. Courtney leaves her own workout light because she’s distracted and she doesn’t want to hurt herself, but she watches Shayne do the exact opposite, shamelessly glancing over at him and watching over the movement of his arms when she finishes ten minutes earlier than they’d said they would. He notices, sending her a wink before he starts to end his own. 

“You can keep going,” she wanders over to stand beside him for a second.

“No, I’m good, I pushed myself more than usual to try and deal with the anxious anticipation so I gotta be careful and all. Plus- What time is it happening? Just before 8? I want to be home cuddling you on the couch pretending nothing is happening when it does,” he glances over towards the clock, showing 7:30.

“Yeah, cool, same- let’s get out of here?” She suggests, and they do just that, packing up and warming down as required before they take the short walk back to her apartment.

They make their breakfast as usual, but it’s release time, and instead of eating at the dining table they go straight for the couch, pressed against each other as they consume their breakfasts and talk about literally anything else they can think of. 

“I gave Damien that game back yesterday, he says thanks,” Courtney tells him, although she leaves out the bit about the Pokémon cartridge. 

“I’m filming a game thing with him next week, it’s not our show coming back unfortunately but it’s just fucking around with a Mario Maker update,” Shayne muses, “You should join us. You can do three player.”

“I suck at Mario,” she laughs.

“Exactly. Comedy value,” he reinforces, jabbing against her side. 

Shayne reluctantly stands up a moment later to take their dishes into the kitchen and rinse them, sitting in the dish drainer to be washed up properly tonight. Courtney grabs her phone, trying not to look at the fact she has way more twitter and Instagram notifications than she usually would a few minutes after a video release. She navigates straight to the Smosh account on twitter and gives a straight retweet, no comment, to the video link. There’s no outward hint of what the video contains whatsoever - she’s gotta thank the editing team again, because most of their videos that don’t have even the slightest bit of something between them have Shourtney-bait thumbnails, at least.

Shayne settles back on the couch beside her as she flicks to Instagram, watching over her shoulder. She inadvertently sees the first two comments shown on the Instagram post - Damien commenting a string of smirking emojis with a hashtag about his blocky Elastigirl, and someone she guesses is a fan with ‘oh my god’ in all capitals. 

Courtney grabs the clip from the story, sharing it to her own. She hesitates before posting it, not knowing whether to add a comment.

“I don’t- I feel like I need to acknowledge it somehow?” She turns to Shayne, almost a question. “Oh! I’ve got something! The promo includes your stupid potato, there’s a potato emoji, yeah?”

She scrolls through when he confirms, typing out a potato emoji next to a heart. She sits them down in the corner of the shared video, hitting the button to post to her public story. 

Shayne, for his part, has now pulled out his own phone. He doesn’t share promo as much - but he relents this time, retweeting the twitter link with the caption “good content”. He too goes a little more direct in the Instagram story, hiding a kissing-face emoji in the same bottom corner she had put hers.

“It’s done. We’ve done it,” he says, a moment later, sliding Courtney’s phone out of her hands and placing it on the table with his own before he wraps both arms and most of his body around her in a tight hug. She laughs as she hugs him back, shifting them around so she is sitting on his lap before leaning forward and pressing her head into the crook of his neck.

“We’ve done it. I love you, I love you, I love you,” she mumbles against his skin, and he starts drawing hearts across her back with one hand. 

They walk into work holding hands, but quickly separate, Shayne taking their lunches to the kitchen as Courtney sets herself up at her desk. As they’d requested, no one tells them anything about what the reaction has been, and they settle into their workdays, both feeling a little lighter than before. 

As they’d agreed while they cuddled on the couch before work, they wander over to Sarah together, Tommy already standing beside her, at the end of their lunch break. 

“General gist of what’s happened?” Courtney asks them, not needing to elaborate, fidgeting with Shayne’s hand.

“Well - it’s our most viewed video this month already,” Sarah starts, “way more comments and interactions everywhere else than normal, Tommy was just saying, and it’s like a 99% like ratio on the video, so I think it’s pretty positive.”

“I won’t lie, there’s a bit of gross stuff coming up in the replies, but it’s mostly just incessant positive screaming,” Tommy adds, and Shayne lets out an almost-relieved laugh. 

“Okay that’s- that’s good, I guess?”

“It sounds good,” Courtney adds, nodding, not sure what else to say. 

They don’t talk of it any further for the remainder of the week, although they both know the video very quickly races up their most-viewed list. The Smoshcast goes up as a recording on Wednesday morning, and they know just from their notification totals that it’s generated a response, but they intentionally disengage from social media for the week and focus on the other parts of their job. A group of them - Olivia and Sam, Shayne and Courtney, and a couple other Goldbergs friends - spend Saturday at a relatively quiet beach near Santa Monica, and they all get recognised once, but no special mention is made of either couple present. 

Sunday morning is when the video version of the podcast releases, and the wave of responses it attracts is enough that Courtney has to delete and reinstall Instagram because the amount of unread DMs is making it crash every time she opens it. 

“I kind of want to say something, everyone is being super positive and understanding of us wanting to be as low key about it as possible- which I know makes saying something make even less sense, but I just… it’s so positive, I gotta acknowledge it,” Courtney admits, sitting on the floor leaning back against the couch as she clicks through and lets her eyes flick over some of the DMs. She doesn’t reply and she leaves them in requests, but if she’s seen them then at least her app might stop crashing.

“I know what you mean,” Shayne agrees with her from where he’s lying on the couch behind her, flicking through his twitter replies. His Instagram DMs are always a little more absurdist humour than personal contact, so he doesn’t bother there.

“Move over,” Courtney prods his leg as she clambers up off the floor, and he does, twisting to sit up so she can take a seat beside him, Courtney reaching over to run her fingers through his hair and put it back into place where it’s gone wild from him lying down.

“We selfie-ing?” Shayne asks, wrapping an arm around her shoulders.

“Yeah, if that’s cool? I don’t want to do this like intentionally cuddling up to post it thing often, but just this time...” she trails off. 

“No, I get it,” he replies, “I might post one too.”

They end up with two pictures they like - the first, pressed together, looking at each other instead of the camera, Shayne’s arm around her shoulders. The second is slightly more direct, Shayne’s lips pressed against her cheek as she wraps her arm around his shoulders, still leaning heavily and obviously into his side. They can’t decide which one they’ll each post, so they choose both, just going in a different order so the posts are distinguishable.

“Thanks for all the positivity and love the last few days, everyone - we aren’t reading comments or replies at the moment in case there is anything dodgier going on but the Smosh team is letting us know the general vibe. It’s nice to be able to stop hiding this very large and very important part of our lives, although you won’t get many posts like this. 

<3 you @shaynetopp” Courtney types, hesitating for a few moments before hitting post, quitting out of Instagram the second it uploads.

“Thanks for all the excitement (same) and love (same) the last few days everyone. As my girlfriend @Co_Mill (!!!) said, we’re staying away from the detail, but we do appreciate all the support.

And for real – Court/our relationship is the most important part of my life and I’m glad to not have to hide it anymore. <3 you too, Courtney.” Shayne’s caption is somehow both more jokey and more serious, and he also closes out of his phone the second it uploads.

They don’t look at any of the replies _much_ , but they know that their co-workers all throw strings of positive emojis at their posts, and most of the fans react in a similar vein.


	21. Chapter 18: Knows Me Best

They rush into a rapid shooting schedule only a couple of weeks later, because they’re all heading off on their Try Not To Laugh Live Tour soon so they’ll be out of the office for a while and everything needs to be ready to go before they leave. Their tour schedule isn’t technically that long, but it ends up bleeding into the almost three-week break they take over Christmas/New Year, so they need to sort out a fair bit of content beforehand.

They film two Eat It or Yeet It episodes back-to-back on the Monday morning of their first shoot-heavy week, and when Olivia and Ian end up literally locking themselves in bathrooms throwing up after the second shoot, Courtney is incredibly glad for her role on the show. She makes such a comment partway through the second video, too, as Shayne spits out a weird drink concoction that she knows includes a whole lot of fish sauce.

“Hey, what’s our stance on kissing on camera?” Shayne asks her, in response.

“I don’t know, but right now, absolutely not,” she replies with some force, making a show of jumping away from him and over to the other side of the table, although she’s laughing as she does.

“What _is_ your stance on kissing on camera? Because I mean, the cheek kisses and whatever are pretty regular for you guys around the office,” Damien asks them after the cameras cut, and they shrug.

“Did I ever tell you Shayne’s first stupid idea for going public?” Courtney gives a non-answer by changing the topic, as the group of them hangs around in the studio for a moment before the other participants are finished with their throwing up and they can move into shooting their next video.

“No?” Sarah pushes, intrigued.

“I was beating his ass at Smash Bros on Switch and he tried to get a round up on me – like, seriously, it was 4-0 in the final round – by trying to stay button mashing behind his back while he kissed me. It didn’t work, I still won, but we figured that’d be a fun way to go public on games, just like, start making out in the middle of competing,” she explains, shaking her head. “Ideally in a big group game like the mystery croc stuff, and no one would say anything about it at all, just really fuck with everyone.”

“Careful, I’ll tell ‘em what your reply suggestion was,” he teases her, as the others laugh, but she merely grins.

“My reply suggestion was he should get me on try not to laugh by saying something dirty. But, actually, I think I’m going to be _better_ at not laughing at you now, because I’m way more used to seeing you shirtless,” she answers, turning back to Shayne as she finishes, and it earns them a bit of teasing as they all head back to get ready for the next (slightly delayed, because of the vomiting) shoot.

“Well, we do have try not to laughs to film tomorrow and Wednesday, so…” Sarah trails off.

————————————————

“I genuinely don’t know how I’m going to handle try not to laugh now,” Shayne admits, when they’re lying in bed later that evening.

“Really? You’re so good at coming up with bits, I’m sure you can come up with something. It’s not like I’m exactly good at not laughing when you make any joke whatsoever…” she trails off, and he grins.

“I know, and it’s definitely easier than it was while we were hiding things but it’s like… I don’t know. Maybe I’m just overthinking it and I’ll be fine when we actually do it.”

“I’m just hoping I can come up with enough bits for, what, we’re shooting three episodes in two days, right?” she confirms.

“Yeah, three this week. Few more before we leave too, I think,” he replies, “the Rhett and Link one should be easy, they’ve got so much damn content that just playing off their stuff is bound to be good.”

“You’re going to look _so_ short on camera beside them,” Courtney teases.

“Oh, shush,” he groans, “I’m so glad you don’t do the whole tall guys only thing.”

“I mean, I used to when I was using dating apps but… turns out I just love you a whole fucking lot and also it’s actually quite nice for cuddling purposes that we’re the same height. I can totally spoon you if I want to,” she grins, rolling over and wrapping herself around his side in demonstration.

“Social shit around height in relationships sucks, but also, yes, I will look very small beside them. Think you can stand between us, so I look normal and they look freakishly tall instead?”

“I mean, they are,” Courtney laughs.

The episode with Rhett and Link is the first they record, because given they work in the same building, it is quite easy for them to pop down to the studio they use for TNTL earlier in the morning. It’s a shoot mostly without incident – Courtney manages to make Shayne laugh with an academy of weird sounds bit, and he gets her with a bad wig and a joke about a fast food establishment. They switch it up for their second shoot with a Gauntlet – just with their usual squad, for once.

Courtney tries a bunch of props hit against the instruments on stage, and she manages to make a couple of them laugh – Shayne included – although not all, and she’s not surprised, because she totally forgot there was a gauntlet and didn’t come up with anything beforehand.

Shayne is another story. Courtney spits out her water the second she sees him walk out in a dress, hanging off one shoulder, and a very thick brown wig. She’s not sure if it’s the one strategically visible nipple or the way he’s walking with one arm out holding a rose, but she doesn’t last long. He looks straight at Damien as he delivers a line that makes it clear he’s playing a Bachelor joke, Ian next, although it is everyone _but_ Damien that laughs in response to that.

“Okay, I pick Courtney,” he shoves the rose at her as he wanders backstage with a minute left, and she shrugs, taking the rose from him, laughing again when he returns with a unicorn mask and just _screams_. It gets Damien, too, and his turn is over.

————————————————

The producing team in charge of Games just shrugs when Damien and Shayne ask them if Courtney can join them for the Mario Maker video, so she does, squeezing between them on the small couch directly in front of the TV as Damien stumbles through a messy, stupid intro reminiscent of their old Damien & Shayne show.

“And we’ve got Courtney here and this is very much the vibe of like… my little sister is dating my best friend so I have to let the sister play too even though she _sucks_?” Damien explains.

“Wow, rude, how do you know I’m not boss at this?” Courtney shoots back, Shayne laughing, although her gameplay quickly proves Damien correct.

“Oh, Courtney, how about you just… stayyyyy dead?” Damien suggests, jumping out of the way of her bubble floating across the screen when she’s crushed by a particularly aggressive thwomp.

“You are _so_ mean today,” she emphasises, hitting him in the arm before leaning back against Shayne’s side, looking up at him expectantly.

“I have made a choice… to be sassy and that is my choice to stick with,” Damien defends, Shayne and Courtney laughing at him as Shayne answers her silent request and jumps into her bubble to bring her back to life.

“Can I just point out it was their idea for me to join this video in the first place, not mine,” Courtney reasons, when she gets way lower on the end-of-level bonus pole in their next level.

“I don’t think you can put that on _both_ of us,” Damien grins.

“Actually, Damien, if I remember correctly you suggested I ask her if she wanted to in the first place,” Shayne sends it back at him.

“Love how these boys are fighting over who to blame for my presence,” Courtney raises an eyebrow, pretend-huffing in annoyance as she slinks further down into the couch.

“Your framing is just getting worse and worse,” Damien laughs, glancing towards the monitor that reflects their main camera back at them, “guys, Courtney is actually the largest member of Smosh by far.”

“Oh, yeah, she’s like way taller than me,” Shayne joins in the joke, Courtney rolling her eyes and sitting up slightly.

“We’re the same height, Shayne. You got bigger muscles thooooough,” she jabs at his pecs through his shirt.

“God knows why you two getting together surprised no one,” Damien points out, almost exasperated.

————————————————

“I pitched this idea before you two started dating, okay, I feel so threatened now,” Damien jokes as they set up to film a who-knows-me-best video, in the last week before they’re heading off on their tour. 

“Yeah, good luck,” Shayne laughs, although admittedly, he does feel a little bit sorry for his best friend, that he’s now competing against his girlfriend.

“Hi everyone, welcome to another video that Damien would like me to tell you he pitched a very long time ago- because we’re going to have Damien and Courtney competing to see who knows me best!” Shayne intros when their director calls action.

“To be fair, you guys have known each other for longer and you lived together for longer than Shayne and I have so far,” Courtney rebuts, and Shayne nods.

“That is true, and I did try to make these a little bit even...” he continues with the intro, Keith, Noah and Olivia sitting beside them and joining in the commentary.

“Okay, first question. How many brothers do I have and what are their names?” He asks when they eventually get to the questions. “They watch these, so you know, if you don’t know them they’re gonna be mad at me for not mentioning them enough- well, Courtney, if you don’t I’ll be very confused since we had dinner with one of them only a couple of weeks ago, but-”

“Pssssh, easy,” Damien grins. Unsurprisingly, they both get both brothers correct.

“Okay, they’re going to get rapidly harder because I want to actually be able to spray you,” he admits after he confirms they were correct, “okay - what item did I sleep with when I was a kid?”

“It’s gotta be weights,” Noah pipes up, seriously, Shayne raising a hand up in an incredulous shrug as the others write their answers down. Truthfully, he’s not sure if either of them know this one. 

“Damien?” He calls on him first.

“Well I- you like family, you’re a family guy, so I’m going to guess, a grandparent’s shirt?”

“Okay that makes me sound like a good person, so thanks. Courtney?”

“An empty pillowcase, because you’re a total weirdo,” she answers, grinning.

“What? How did you- what?” Shayne replies, incredulous.

“Well I’m getting wet,” Damien deadpans. 

“Well-“ Shayne starts, lifting up a water gun and pointing it between them for a moment before shifting it to the side and spraying Damien.

“Thank you for that point, Shayne’s Mum,” Courtney nods towards the camera, and Shayne sighs. 

“I didn’t know she’d told you that. Okay, okay, I’m going more abstract now, so no family members could have given away this one- what’s my greatest fear?”

“Dolls,” Olivia supplies, immediately. 

“No, I said abstract, but dolls are creepy,” Shayne shakes his head, seeing Damien quickly erase what he’d written and start again.

“Undercooked chicken? Because I mean, you gotta be eating a lot of protein,” Noah supplies, Shayne laughing.

“No, it’s definitely silence, that’s why he’s always screaming,” Keith debates.

“Courtney?” Shayne calls on her first.

“Sick, so I’m pretty sure this is wrong because I know your actual answer but I don’t think you will have used that so- hurting someone you care about?” she flips around her board.

“Interesting,” Shayne nods, trying not to give anything away, although he’s a little floored by how well she got him. “Damien?”

“So I actually went a slightly more bizarre nightmare route but along the same line as Keith - losing the ability to talk? Because you know, it’s your job and all, and you constantly try to make people laugh, plus the screaming.”

“You know, those are both interesting answers and they both sound pretty terrifying, so like- neither of you are totally _wrong_ …” Shayne starts.

“Uh oh,” Courtney replies as he picks up a water gun and points it straight at Damien. Shayne deliberates for another moment before pressing the trigger, spraying a line back and forth across both of them. 

“Argh!” Courtney screams, trying to dodge away. “What was it, then?”

“Well actually- you were entirely correct, Courtney, but I’m scared you’re cheating somehow?” He replies, “did I leave these answers sitting around at home somewhere? I didn’t even have them printed out before this, but like…”

“Hey, you sprayed me for nothing, idiot! I swear that was a total guess,” she defends herself, and Damien shakes his head.

“Is there going to be any of these you don’t get, Courtney? Also can I have a bonus point for also knowing you used a fake answer because your real answer is some cheesy shit?”

“Well I mean, Court would also get a bonus point then so- Nope! She might not get this next one though - what do I think is my best physical feature?” He asks, and both Courtney and Damien pause for a moment before scribbling down their answers.

“I’m going to say your calves, because you know, sassy leg infantry is a good fan and cast favourite,” Damien answers.

“You got nice eyes, boy, and I think you know it,” Courtney supplies with her answer.

“You’re both wrong this time, any ideas over here?” Shayne gestures to the other three sitting beside them.

“Your arms? Pecs?” Noah offers, attempting to flex his own in explanation.

“Ass? Neck? Face? Ears? Dick?” Olivia supplies, and Shayne laughs. 

“What the hell Olivia, no, you’re all wrong – I put my back. I mean, I don’t really, think about myself much that way but - I’ve got comments on it, I guess?” He explains, before selecting the largest water gun and shooting it at both people opposite him.

Courtney, for her part, absentmindedly drums her nails on the table after he’s finished shooting the water at them, but Shayne knows exactly what she’s doing - hey, he’s a sucker for her nails digging into his back when they’re getting a little passionate and she absolutely knows that - and he kicks her lightly under the table in response, trying to school his features and minimise his own reaction.

Damien finally gets one right that Courtney doesn’t, with the next question about something from their Disney days, but she follows it up with two right that he misses.

“Okay, so our winner here is Courtney!” Shayne confirms, after the final round.

“I might’ve done better if I’d listened to anything you’ve said to me for the last ten years I guess,” Damien puts on a face of contemplation, “dunno if it would be worth it though, you talk a lot.”

It earns him another spray from the water gun Shayne is holding, Damien grabbing a gun to return fire, and they continue shooting water at each other as Courtney reads the outro, asking for suggestions of who else they should put in similar future episodes.


	22. Chapter 19: Intentionally

“Wait so what’s your actual biggest fear then?” Keith asks, after they cut, when there is no longer water flying around.

“Super cheesy,” Shayne admits, voice softer as he looks up and meets Courtney’s eyes. She nods, reaching across the table to take one of his hands. “Losing this one somehow. I know it’s not funny, so not in the video, and I knew none of us would say it although obviously Court knows and I wouldn’t be surprised if the rest of you could guess it too, so.”

Damien nods in confirmation, and Olivia and Keith let out only mildly-teasing ‘awww’s as they all start standing up from the table, Courtney pressing a very quick kiss to Shayne’s lips when she moves closer to him.

“Serious question, you can dodge it if you want to, but have you guys actually fought about anything since you got together? It’s been a while, there’s gotta be something,” Damien asks them, carefully, as they walk back to wardrobe to switch out clothing for another (drier) video.

“I mean, we bicker about stuff at home sometimes, I’m not exactly as neat as Shayne,” Courtney shrugs, “nothing big though.”

“We have this fun thing called communication and it makes everything pretty smooth,” Shayne answers, arm wrapping around her shoulders. She responds by bringing her hand up, scratching across his upper back lightly with her nails through his shirt, causing him to shiver slightly. “Hey, baby, I need to grab something from the office - come with me?” He asks her a little more quietly, although the others still hear. Courtney simply nods, as they silently turn and head not entirely in the direction of the main office towards a particularly secluded bathroom.

“Sorry, I couldn’t resist teasing you a little when you started talking about your back,” she murmurs as they step into the bathroom, Shayne immediately clicking the lock shut and pressing her up against the door.

“No apology needed, I’m not mad,” he answers, as she slides a hand into his hair to pull his face towards hers. He kisses her firmly, tongue sliding into her mouth when she immediately grants him access. She slides her free hand up under his shirt, nails raking pointedly across his back as they make out, digging slight indentations into his skin, although not quite to the extent she does in other circumstances.

“I’m ripping your clothes off the second we get home, but not here,” Courtney murmurs a few minutes later, as their kiss gradually slows. She is now sitting up on the bench beside the sink, legs wrapped around his torso, him having lifted her away from the door partway through their kiss when they heard evidence of people close to the other side of it.

“I very much agree with that,” he answers, punctuating his statement with another firm kiss to her mouth, “we’ve already been in here too long.”

“If anyone asks I don’t mind if you tell them I was throwing some inside joke teasing at you,” she grins, as they finally separate slightly, her nails running pointedly although very lightly down his back as she reclaims her hands.

Olivia and Damien are waiting for them in wardrobe when they arrive, and they both raise pointed eyebrows at them when they walk in laughing at something Courtney had said in the hallway, but no one directly asks any questions so they settle into preparing for the next video.

“Hey, Shayne?” Damien grabs his attention quietly after they shoot, voice low and a little serious.

“Yeah?” Shayne prompts, mildly concerned.

“We know you two ran off alone somewhere there, I just- I’m sorry if I caused any issue with the fighting question, the timing seemed a little off although you guys seemed fine when you came back but-”

“Oh, no, that wasn’t it at all,” Shayne reassures him, grinning, “you’re totally fine, we weren’t kidding, we don’t fight. Um, she was throwing some very pointed teasing at me during the shoot and while we were all talking after, we kinda ran away for a little makeout sesh.” Shayne blushes and shrugs as if minimising his admission, and it makes Damien laugh.

“Ooh, okay, that’s a little less worrying then. I’m surprised I didn’t notice she was doing anything?” He tilts his head, confused.

“I’m glad you didn’t notice because it shouldn’t be obvious to anyone, then,” Shayne laughs. “It was an inside joke… thing. I think I’m going to try something with the squad TNTL next - think you can tell me if it gets too obvious or too much?”

“Sure, what are you trying?” Damien grins.

“I might not be thinking with the right body part right now, but I kinda want to tease the hell out of her,” Shayne admits, “mostly by doing shirtless bits the entire time.”

“Look, that’s not entirely abnormal for you, so you should be okay depending what they are, but- maybe run it by her? Because people will jump on it if you guys reference anything remotely sexual, you just gotta both be okay with that,” Damien points out, and Shayne nods.

“Yeah, I will. I’m not going to do anything particularly explicit, just mess around a little,” he explains, Damien nodding.

“Hey baby,” Courtney greets him with a grin when he wanders over to her a little later when they’re all standing in the TNTL studio waiting for a sound issue to be sorted out, “What were you whispering about with Damien before?”

“Oh, he was worried we disappeared to argue or something because it was just after he asked us about that but I told him we were making out,” Shayne grins, “talking of which... I’ve got Damien on the lookout to pull me back if it’s too much, but you cool if I get a little intentionally teasing in this?”

“Yeah, baby. Nothing too explicit but- I’m interested to see what you come up with,” she grins, “and be prepared to take it, too.”

“Positions for the intro guys, we think we’re good!” One of the crew calls, and they all move back into the centre of the room. Courtney takes the spot on the stool, Shayne standing immediately beside her and subtly resting a hand on her lower back, although with the angle he’s standing at it can’t be particularly obvious.

Ian and Damien handle the intro, Courtney helping out with the notification bell part by punching Shayne in the upper arm. They all head backstage, Ian taking the first round on the stool. Shayne pulls his shirt off the second they step backstage, making sure Courtney is watching him when he does, although he keeps it casual given there is a camera back there too. 

“Nice,” she murmurs under her breath, hand catching his lower back as she walks past to do her bit, props stuffed in her pockets to support a string of puns that make Ian spit out about halfway through. For his part, Shayne brings out the dumpster wizard for Ian, although without his usual coat. Ian laughs almost the second he walks out there, but he still throws out his Abercrombie & Fitch line. 

Damien is next in the hot seat, most of the cast managing to make him laugh just before the end of thirty seconds. Courtney grabs a handful of props and throws on her children’s TV show presenter voice, striding out looking for Blue. 

“Oh no, we’ll have to go look in here!” She points to her blue hoola hoop, jumping into it and managing to transition into a purposeful slut drop. Damien spits out his water, and she can see Shayne react with wide eyes from behind the ‘backstage’ screen just out of the corner of her eye. Mission accomplished.

“Nice,” Shayne repeats her earlier comment under his breath when she walks back behind the screen, and she just maintains her smile, not reacting as he walks out - still shirtless - to do his own bit, which quickly descends into that leg slapping dance, ending Damien’s turn with another success.

“Where’s your shirt?” Ian calls out from backstage when Shayne sits on the stool, still shirtless.

“Courtney stole it,” he answers, before taking a mouthful of water. She’s not quite sure if he actually knew, but she walks out onto the stage at that moment to drag a stool to sit just to his left, wearing the pizza place shirt he had on for the intro tied at the waist to fit her better, although it’s obvious it’s his size, not hers. 

“Just setting up don’t start the time yet!” She calls, rushing backstage again and grabbing the red phone and a milkshake cup, sitting the phone on the stool and handing the cup to Shayne, winking at him when she does. He takes it with a raised eyebrow as she moves back over beside the phone.

Olivia mimes a ringing from backstage, and Courtney picks up.

“Hi, this is the pickup line review service,” she answers.

“Hi I’m Shayne, wanna get milkshakes?” Olivia calls out, voice artificially gruff.

“Hm, not direct enough, try something else,” Courtney answers, before hanging up the phone, glancing over to see Shayne rapidly turning red. Olivia mimes ringing again, and Courtney answers the phone with the same line as before.

“You’re my favourite pizza place!” Damien calls out, mimicking Shayne’s high-pitched final version, and Shayne spits out his water forcefully as Courtney replies.

“That’s not a pickup line, people aren’t restaurants!”

“Ugh, dammit Courtney, I swear that’s not how it happened- is that actually my shirt?” He laughs. 

“Yep, you aren’t using it,” she grins, moving back behind the screen and letting someone else go.

“Hey, Courtney, you join mine, you’re messing with him yeah?” Olivia whispers, backstage, as Ian wanders out and does a wildly unsuccessful bit about a sad doctor. “I dunno what I’m doing yet, though, but I’ll work it out, just come out with me.”

“Um, okay?” Courtney raises an eyebrow, not sure what she’s getting herself into when time is called on Ian and Olivia grabs her forearm, dragging her out behind her.

“So, this is promo for a bad trip to Hawaii,” she tells Shayne, shoving the kids’ toy phone at Courtney, who messily grabs it.

“Hi, is this Hawaii?” Olivia calls, pulling out her own phone.

“Um, yes, this is the entire state of Hawaii, what do you want?” Courtney replies, holding the phone up to her ear.

“Well I turned into a lobster when I – a lobster attacked my hand and I turned into one, can you help me?” she replies, holding up her hand with lobster claw attached, “and also I’m a lawyer and I’ll sue your ass.”

“Did it happen in Hawaii?” Courtney asks.

“No, it happened in space,” Olivia replies.

“What?” Shayne spits out his water, glancing between the two of them in confusion.

“Yeah I changed my mind on my bit when I walked out here,” she shrugs.

“I didn’t know anything, dammit Olivia,” Courtney shakes her head, following her back behind the screen.

“I was going to do a kissing thing with you but I figured maybe that’s not cool anymore?” Olivia whispers, when they’re away from the boom mic again, and Courtney raises an eyebrow.

“I mean, he doesn’t care in general he knows we’re just being stupid, but let’s not be too direct, hey?” Courtney shrugs, and Olivia nods.


	23. Chapter 20: Shirtless

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This and the next few chapters are probably the most explicit this fic is going to get outside of chapters specifically marked as explicit and skippable. There is no active sexual activity, but there's some pretty explicit references to sexual acts, so heads up for that.

Olivia has her turn, next, leaving Courtney to go up last. Ian wanders out first in Courtney’s turn on the hot seat, also shirtless, making out with the excessively long-tongued mannequin. She laughs, kicks him in the shin, and hopes he’s just being a dick and not doing anything intentionally.

“Hello, Courtney, I am your biggest-“ Damien starts – also shirtless – “stalker, because he stole my fan” he finishes, pointing at Shayne, appearing behind her fanning himself. She rolls her eyes, looking back at Damien.

“Can I take you on a date, and by which I mean the preserved fruit but giant and it flies?” he finishes, and she laughs, giving Damien the success.

“Please god let Olivia’s bit not feature any partial nudity,” she jokes, before taking another mouthful of water. To her credit, Olivia’s bit is in character – super weird – and fully clothed in an orange prison jumpsuit, and Courtney laughs out of incredulity as much as humour.

“Okay, so this character is… me, but confused, trying on hats,” Shayne calls out from somewhere other than behind the screen, “you got water yet?”

Courtney manages a muffled yes through her mouthful of water, glancing around to try and find where he is.

“Oh, hey Court, is this a good time-“ he walks in from in front of her near the camera, wearing nothing but his actual underwear, holding a cowboy hat in front of his crotch as he turns back to slightly face the cameras. “Oh, shit, nope, bad time,” He adds, angling back to face her, lifting the cowboy hat away from his crotch and tipping the hat on his head as she spits the water directly at his chest. She can’t help but glance down, but she hopes the whole water spitting thing hides it.

“What the fuck, Shayne,” she laughs.

“You spat all over me!” he shoots back, incredulous, and she grins as he sets the cowboy hat back in place and walks back off the stage.

“What did you expect?!” she calls after him. “I know I said you being shirtless isn’t going to make me laugh any more, but that doesn’t mean take even more off, okay?”

“Still shirtless, Shayne?” Ian points out, as they all gather together again for the outro.

“I made a choice and I’m sticking with it,” he defends, “also she still has my shirt.” He gestures towards Courtney, who pointedly grins before continuing with the end card outro.

“What actually was that last joke?” Ian laughs, after the camera cuts, and Shayne shrugs.

“It’s a choose your own implication joke, in my mind it was genuinely about hat shopping,” he defends.

“Sure it was,” Damien laughs, “you two are being _so_ intense today.”

“Oops,” Courtney shrugs, laughing it off.

“Yeah, do we need to reshoot anything in case you turn around and regret getting like that in front of the cameras?” Ian asks, raising an eyebrow, but Shayne shakes his head.

“Nah, it’s chill. We discussed beforehand, it’s just implication and silliness, playing it up a little on purpose,” he replies, Courtney nodding.

“It’s not like us all flashing each other and getting down to underwear isn’t something that we’ve done in the past. I know it is a little more pointed given everyone knows we’re together, but still. If you want us to tone it down we can, though,” Courtney supplies, but Ian shakes his head.

“Nah, it’s fine, just don’t literally start talking about fucking each other or whatever,” Ian laughs.

“Yeah, we’re not Sam and Liv,” Courtney replies, and Olivia looks aghast for a moment.

“Actually, yeah, I do say a lot about being horny when he’s here don’t I?” she tilts her head in contemplation.

“Um, yeah,” Shayne laughs, “and we won’t even tell any of you _anything_.”

“I know, it sucks, I just wanna know if all your small dick jokes are for real,” Ian adds, “like I think you’ve given us about eight different measurements, but I’ve never seen your dick, so I don’t know.”

“I mean, I couldn’t give you a number, but…” Courtney trails off, glancing over at him for permission to continue their teasing, only continuing when he nods slightly, “he’s good. They’re jokes.”

“I don’t know if I want to take this conversation any further,” Damien admits, albeit laughing.

“Don’t pretend you’ve never seen me naked, Dames,” Shayne laughs, “you walked in on me showering once.”

“Well that’s a Shaymien fanfiction if I ever heard one,” Courtney laughs.

“Yeah except in real life I apologised and covered my eyes and ran away without looking. I swear I’ve never seen it!” Damien defends, and Shayne nods.

“Yeah, that sounds about right.”

“Love this convo about my boyfriend’s penis and all but do we have anything else to do today?” Courtney asks, leaning heavily against Shayne’s side.

“Nope, and we’re back early for an EBE tomorrow, so get your asses out of here,” Ian laughs.

“Cool, we’re leaving,” Courtney tells Shayne, immediately, and he grins.

“I thought we stopped talking about Shayne’s-“ Olivia starts.

“Shut up Olivia!” Shayne replies, “we could be going home for _any_ reason, okay?”

“Yeah, we’re actually going home because I forgot to water my plant babies this morning and the sun today would’ve dried them out a dangerous amount,” Courtney improvises.

The others laugh in disbelief, but it ends their conversation just as she intended and they all move off to get their things and head out, Courtney and Shayne just a little bit quicker than the others.

“This is why it’s a bad idea for us to fuck in the morning, we end up all over each other all day and then they ask,” Courtney muses, when they’re back in Shayne’s car, and he laughs.

“Yeah, but you’re so fucking adorable when you’re sleepy and cuddly first thing in the morning and all I want is to be as close to you as possible, so…” he trails off.

“I mean, same,” she grins, “sidenote, thanks for giving me an eyeful of your bulge on camera, that was a hard one – pun unintended, because you weren’t hard, unfortunately – to pretend I didn’t want to stare at. Or grab. Or get down on the floor and… you get the picture. Good thing I’m like, the opposite of exhibitionist, and being in front of cameras does _not_ make me horny.”

“Yeah, I’m kinda glad I kept having to look at the cameras and the others and whatever too, otherwise I might’ve been hard. You are more than welcome to recreate that last suggestion when we get home, though…”

“Are you asking me to blow you?”

“I mean… if you’d like to?”

“Yeah, baby. I’m not going to get to the point where you can cum straight down my throat without me gagging without practice, y’know?” she answers, and she desperately wants to reach over the console and touch him but she’s much too conscious of the fact that he is driving.

“Jesus fucking christ, Courtney,” he responds, with an out-of-breath laugh.

“What? Too much?” she grins, and he shakes his head, eyes flicking briefly over to meet hers before they return to the road.

“No, I love it. I love you and I would really like to get home right now because- fuck. You look so fucking beautiful kneeling in front of me and- that and-, you’re – an angel, or something, my gorgeous angel and I…” he trails off, with a heavy sigh.

“All yours, baby. I’m all yours,” she picks up on his slight possessiveness, relishing in it, voice light but lustful. “We’ll be home in ten minutes.”

————————————————

“You’re getting better at dirty talk,” Courtney muses, hand holding Shayne’s jaw as they lie close together in their bed a few hours after they get home. It had been a surprising discovery she’d made early in their relationship, that Shayne was not the most vocal about his own sexual desires. At the same time, it kind of made sense – he was a little more reserved than her.

“I try. I think all this stuff about you but the second I’m actually in the moment my mind just goes blank because I don’t want to think about anything except what’s happening at that moment,” he replies, shrugging, “plus I’m always trying to stay behind the line between empowering and objectifying, and between demeaning and adoring, and it’s not like I’m ever actually over that line because I _do_ adore you and I think you are so strong and amazing but I just- I don’t know sometimes.”

“You worry too much, baby,” she replies, “I never feel remotely objectified or demeaned by anything you say about me. You kinda talk like you worship me, y’know.”

“Well, I do. You’re my princess, or- I kind of think of you as my angel a lot because you’re so stunningly perfect in every way you can’t be real, but you are and you’re here and you love me too and I just... love you so much. But then I... don’t know about ‘my’, because I know you’re mine in the exclusivity sense but I don’t want to come off like I’m being possessive in the creepy old women are property way because that’s not what I mean at all.”

“Possessive can be good, though. Like I’m possessive of you too, baby, you’re my Shayne, not just Shayne. You’re mine in the sense that we’re a team, and we’re partners in everything and we are each other’s number one person,” Courtney reinforces, and he nods. “And I’m yours in the sense that I trust you with me completely, and I mean that in the physical sense but also emotionally and the like - you get to see and touch every part of me, both literally and metaphorically.”

“That’s exactly how I see it too, I just didn’t know how to put it into words,” he replies, hand running softly through the ends of her hair.

“I want you to try something,” Courtney starts, the hand on his face shifting slightly so her thumb rests at the corner of his mouth, “not now, unless you somehow have the strength for another round, but I want you to tell me every single thought about me that crosses your mind for a whole day. I know there’s more in there that you’re holding back.”

“I’d be very happy to do that, but yeah, not now I’m exhausted. It seems... risky to do at work, but there’s a lot more when we’re at work doing stuff,” he agrees.

“Tomorrow? You could always text me things if we’re not in a situation where it’s appropriate to say out loud,” she suggests, and he nods.

“Okay. You know we have to kiss in an EBE tomorrow?”

“Yeah. It’s going to be weird kissing you in character,” Courtney sighs.

“Same, I can’t decide whether to convince myself it isn’t really you or just go with it, because I know we’ve talked about how it’s still cool to do our jobs and all with kissing other people but I feel wrong when I do it anyway- but if I just kiss you like normal god knows what will happen,” he laughs, and Courtney grins.

“Olivia told me after that the TNTL bit she was going to do today was going to be kissing me and repetitively asking you if it was okay, but she didn’t because she didn’t ask me if I was still cool with her kissing me before we got out there,” she explains, and Shayne nods.

“I have no problem with you two kissing on camera because I know it’s for the camera, but I’m hesitant to make a thing out of that in a bit. I probably would’ve spit to shut it down,” he admits.

“Yeah, no, I probably wouldn’t have gone ahead with it. I know you don’t mind but I do a little. I’ve never had a thing for Olivia in the slightest but I dunno, I just like kissing you so much I don’t want to kiss anyone else,” she admits.

“I always wondered after you came out whether there was something there with Liv. I mean, I don’t care, but I just wondered,” he admits.

“You care a little,” she grins, teasing, “I actually had a conversation with Liv about it when I came out to make it clear there wasn’t anything there. She’s one of my best friends, but that’s it. I came out because there were increasingly girls I found attractive in that way, but no one in particular I was actually into in a wanting to date sense. You kind of have had my whole heart for a long time.”

“I hope I’ll have it forever, because you have mine,” he replies softly, and she nods, reaching out to softly bring his hand to her face and kiss his knuckles.

“Forever,” she confirms.


	24. Chapter 21: Onto Us

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am aware the actual TNTL live tour was short and only got to the west coast of the US and didn't include as many people as I have, but the fic tour is longer and larger for plot reasons. Also, this Courtney never dyed her hair red.

“I’m still committed to your idea from last night, but you know this is effectively going to mean I’m just teasing you _all day_ at work and they’re already going to be onto us from yesterday,” Shayne tells Courtney over breakfast the following morning. He’d rolled out of bed much earlier than her to go to the gym, while she elected to stay in a little longer, but she made a point of waiting for him to get back so they could eat their morning meal together anyway.

“Mm, I thought of that. I can handle it, though, I’m still satiated from yesterday. I mean, I came ten times in a day, dude,” she smiles, and Shayne laughs.

“I love that you kept count. I also love watching you cum,” he grins, “I also don’t entirely hate being a little more open about that side of our relationship with our friends. I mean, not really open, to be honest, but actively acknowledging there is a sexual side to our relationship, I guess? I think, in a weird way, it takes away some of the seriousness and intenseness we’ve put around it.”

“I get that, yeah. The detail is still very much private, but I’m kind of over shying away from even the slightest implication. I don’t know why I kept that up while still touching you constantly,” she shrugs.

“Sometimes I’m struggling to concentrate at work these days because when you’re beside me I just want to be in contact with you all the time. I considered asking to swap spots with Damien, but more often than not I can get past that and then being near you just gives me intense motivation,” he admits.

“Am I going to get fun little reveals like this all day?” Courtney asks, smiling, and he shrugs.

“Maybe, although I tell you most stuff like that anyway. Once we actually get into the day it’ll be a lot more… well, I don’t really know, we’ll see what happens. We’ve just got the EBE shoot and then meetings around the TNTL tour, yeah?” He confirms.

“Yeah, and it should be a quick shoot, it’s a one-set deal and we’re all only playing one character each with all the crew getting involved and whatever,” she muses, “anyway, hurry up, we gotta get going soon.”

“I know this is the most basic bitch comment I could make about you, and I am mildly embarrassed at how often I think it, but your ass looks amazing in yoga pants,” Shayne tells her as they climb into her car, ten minutes later.

“To be fair, in yoga pants my ass is as close to looking like it does without anything on,” she laughs.

“Yeah, well, you have a nice ass in general,” he adds.

“So do you, babe.”

Their conversation moves to much more general territory as they drive, Courtney navigating through particularly aggressive LA traffic towards the office as Shayne muses about their live tour. They aren’t actually leaving LA until late the following week, technically – their first show isn’t until Wednesday, and their first couple of shows are in LA and San Diego anyway – but their regular shooting and in-office work schedule is being put on hold for the month or so the tour covers, and a further few weeks after that over Christmas and New Year. At least the full-on shooting schedule over the previous month had made work a little more interesting for a while.

They almost immediately go into wardrobe when they arrive, and Shayne quietly laments the fact that by going off with Damien to wardrobe he’s not going to be able to start the day off with much of his little agreement with Courtney.

“Hey Shanye, nice evening?” Damien asks him as they wander through the studio together, and Shayne laughs off the assumption behind the query.

“Yeah, it was good. Yours? You do a Thursday night stream at the moment, yeah?” he confirms.

“Yeah, it was a short one last night because the geese were being rowdy as hell and I had some VO to do, but played a bit of old school Dark Souls so that’s nice,” Damien answers, nodding in thanks when Shayne holds the door of the room they’re being costumed up in open to let him enter ahead. “What was up with you and Courtney yesterday? Something in particular prompt the closeness? It wasn’t actually bad or anything, it was just a bit different for you guys.”

“Not really, we were both just in a particular mood, I guess. Also, Tuesday was our 6-month anniversary, so there’s that too I suppose. We’ve kinda had a few chats recently too about how we’re actually more comfortable being less reserved around each other in front of you guys anyway, like, still private, but we’ve probably been a little too intense with sidestepping any mention of the physical part of our relationship whatsoever,” Shayne explains, in parts, intermittently interrupted as they move into separate parts of the room to change.

“That makes sense, I mean, I know that you’re a pretty reserved person in general just from how you’ve talked about anything in the past, but I keep getting the vibe that you actually want to say more than you do,” Damien admits.

“Yeah, kinda do sometimes,” Shayne laughs, and they fall into silence as they move to private spaces and finish getting into the physical domains of their characters.

“You want to say something now, right?” Damien asks him, when they’re waiting by themselves for a few minutes before going to get makeup done.

“So like… I am super reserved, and I kinda suck at actually verbalising anything remotely sexual. Even to her. So, I have been challenged to tell her everything I think about her for an entire day…” Shayne trails off.

“You doing that today?” Damien prompts, Shayne nodding. “That sounds like a good way to like, get yourself used to actually saying things, honestly.”

“Yeah, I think it is. And like, obviously, we’re at work, anything that isn’t appropriate for the time or place is probably going to be a text instead of actually verbal, but,” he shrugs, “it’s something I actively want to be more comfortable with, so.”

“How often do you think about her?” Damien asks, interested.

“I mean – pretty constantly in the sense of she’s kind of always on my mind in some way or another, but there’s a distinction between that and actively thinking something in particular, I guess,” Shayne replies, before they’re called in to progress to makeup. Courtney, Kimmy, Olivia and Ian are already there, alongside their two makeup artists.

“We can help with the boys’ if you want, it’s meant to be a little ridic for this one anyway,” Olivia offers, and it is agreed, Courtney volunteering to help with Shayne’s.

“You look good with red hair,” Shayne tells her, when she sits on a stool across from him, gesturing to her red wig. It’s one of his most PG thoughts that he’d actually bother saying as part of this little challenge, although it still draws a comment from beside them.

“You guys gonna kiss in this one hey?” Ian teases, Courtney laughing as she pauses and twists around slightly to face him.

“Yes, but it’s brief and in character so it’s actually going to be very weird for us.”

Her comment causes the conversation to move on, and she turns back, moving one hand up to cup Shayne’s jaw to hold it steady as she begins applying his minimal stage makeup. He pulls his phone out of his pocket in response, typing out a string of messages as they pop into his head.

“I seriously love your hands on me no matter where they are or whether it’s sexual or not. I get so much joy from just being in contact with you.”

“Your hands are so soft and gentle but sharp and purposeful when things are getting like that and it’s so hot.”

“Kinda wish you’d mark me more sometimes – that one time we got carried away and I had scratches on my back and hickeys on my neck for a week? That was perfect.”

“Who ya texting?” Olivia interrupts him, as he hits send on the third message, snapping him out of his train of thoughts.

“Um, Courtney,” he answers, not thinking quickly enough to say anything else.

“While she’s in front of you?” Kimmy laughs, joining the conversation.

“Just home stuff reminders, makes more sense to have them in written than spoken form,” Shayne shrugs it off, glancing up to see Courtney’s eyes burning into him. It causes him to put his hands back to his phone, throwing in one more message before he has to leave his phone behind to shoot the actual sketch.

“Your eyes say so much. I especially like when they say “fuck me”, because yes, I would like to do that.”

They handle all the larger group scenes first, and it makes it easier to switch into acting mode, letting the challenge fall out of his mind momentarily as he concentrates on remembering his lines instead. It’s a holiday-party themed EBE, although a weird one, and Courtney and he are playing a slightly more lowkey couple to Kimmy and Damien’s bizarre focus. Their kiss itself is actually a pan-to-background shot, part of a conversation between Damien and Kimmy’s characters, and they handle it in a single take.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had a single-take kiss before with you two,” Ian jokes, but Courtney shakes her head.

“I mean, we’ve only had a couple anyway, but the making out was one take thank god. That eyebrow kiss took like, forever,” she laughs, brushing off the comments as they wander off behind the cameras to watch some of the scenes which they aren’t involved in. The rest of the shoot is largely inconsequential, and Shayne waits mostly in silence with Damien outside of wardrobe while they wait for the others to walk back to the office with them.

They fall into light conversation for the brief walk back, and Courtney falls into step beside Shayne, hand sliding loosely into his. He feels her eyes on the side of his face as he jokes with the others, and he takes a pause in conversation to glance back at her and smile softly, squeezing her hand. He doesn’t think he needs to translate _that_ thought into words.

He’d never shut up if he had to vocalise whenever it crossed his mind how much he loved her.

Courtney pulls her phone out of her bag the second they all settle back into their seats at their desks, and Shayne can’t help but look over at her for her reaction as she does, leaning back in his own chair beside her. She slides her thumb over the notification to open up his texts, and he watches as her cheeks tinge with red as she reads over his messages. She doesn’t say anything in response, but she leans over to press a firm kiss to his cheek before they settle into their brief period of actual deskwork before the catered lunch they have for the day.


	25. Chapter 22: Safe For Work

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning for once again explicit mentions of sexual activity but no actual engaging in said activity.

They pile into the large meeting room for their lunch, and Shayne and Courtney end up on the long bench across the back wall, Damien, Kimmy and Olivia around them, a tray of sushi sitting in the midst of their semi-circle. Courtney casually leans herself against Shayne’s side, managing to find a way to comfortably arrange their legs so one of her feet rests between Shayne’s.

“I think my thoughts are veering extra sexual because I’m doing this,” he leans over unashamedly, whispering in her ear, “but one of my favourite things is when you lock your thighs around me when I’m eating you out. I love that I can make you feel like that. Also you taste really fucking good.”

Shayne can feel a slight blush on his own cheeks when he pulls back to sit normally, and Courtney is also visibly reacting when he glances back at her.

“What was that?” Olivia grins, and they both flick their eyes over to see their three companions looking at them with confusion, or in Damien’s case, a clear smirk.

“Nothing,” Shayne answers, unconvincingly.

“I feel like we don’t wanna know,” Kimmy adds, and Courtney attempts to finish the discussion by reaching over Shayne to pull the lid off their tray of sushi. It works for a moment, all of them reaching for the food.

“With the amount you’re blushing it’s either gotta be super cheesy or super dirty, this isn’t some hey did you buy groceries thing,” Olivia picks up the conversation after they’ve all started eating, “but I dunno, you guys are so PG most of the time…”

“You know you mostly see us at work Liv, of course we’re going to be staying safe for work at work,” Courtney replies, as Damien lets out a noise that sounds a lot like a restrained laugh.

“I mean, it was Shayne, Shayne’s super reserved and won’t say anything sexual ever, I’d be surprised if it was that in front of us,” Damien adds, and it causes Courtney to tilt her head in confusion and reach for her phone.

“you told him?” she texts Shayne. She feels his phone vibrate against her own leg, stuffed in the pocket she is leaning against, and she makes a split-second decision to grab it out of his pocket herself.

“Yeah, he is,” Courtney responds to Damien’s statement as she pulls it out, hoping to distract from the very clear chain of events beforehand.

“Did you just text him and then take his phone out to read it?” Kimmy asks, laughing, and Courtney shakes her head, although doesn’t specify she’s only referring to the second part of the statement.

“His phone went off and I felt it given you know,” she gestures towards their legs, “it’s effectively in my own pocket over here.”

She hands Shayne his phone, and he immediately texts her a thumbs-up emoji, before typing out more messages.

“you can be in my pockets whenever you want baby. If you had any I might be looking to reach into yours…”

“also I don’t care if you tell them fuck it we’re all adults”

Courtney replies with her own thumbs up, before putting her phone down off to her side.

“Who texted ya? Anything interesting?” Olivia asks, reaching for another piece of sushi.

“Courtney,” Shayne answers, “And I know she just said it wasn’t her but – sometimes we gotta have a private conversation to agree on whether something can be said before it actually is said, so. Y’know.”

“Makes sense,” Damien answers, almost defending them, and Shayne is quietly thankful he jumped in like that.

“Are you guys seriously just PG because work?” Olivia questions, shifting the topic slightly, and Courtney shrugs.

“A bit of it is that, yeah. A lot of it is that we genuinely do want to keep a lot of stuff private because I mean… I dunno. The way I described it to Kari when she wouldn’t get off my case was that because there is a lot of emotional intensity between us the physical stuff is also more inherently intimate and private,” she replies, “but we have also discussed recently that maybe we were a little too reserved about stuff for a while, because like, fuck it we’re all adults and we know you guys are not under any delusions that nothing physical happens because it certainly does.”

“Also Damien wasn’t kidding when he said I’m super reserved. Not great at talking about sexual stuff. Even with Court,” Shayne admits, shrugging, “I’m having to like, actively work on getting better at that.”

“That makes sense, Sam was kind of like that for a while too,” Olivia empathises, “like, he even struggled to express what he wanted to do with me, but he got better at it with practice.”

“That’s kinda what I’m going for. Court gave me a challenge-of-sorts to straight up tell her everything that crosses my mind about her for a day, and I’m kinda doing that today, so,” Shayne admits.

“Okay thank you for telling more people that so I don’t have to snigger alone when you guys go off and have your secret little texts and whispers and whatever. Although, this just dirty stuff?” Damien asks.

“Not just dirty stuff, there’s some very PG but also very sappy stuff too,” Courtney answers, “because he’s a huge sweetheart.”

“Shush,” Shayne admonishes her lightly, completely lacking force, feeling his cheeks heat up.

“Tell her what you’re thinkiiiiiiing,” Olivia teases, Kimmy and Damien laughing when Shayne responds by reaching over and selecting another piece of sushi, immediately shoving it in his face and filing away his reaction to whisper to her later.

“Hey, you’re picking up my eating habits,” Courtney jokes, leaning over him to grab more food for herself.

“Oh that’s a _very_ important question, Shayne,” Damien starts, “do you find Court’s burping attractive?”

“I mean…” Shayne sighs, swallowing his food, “yes, in a way? I’m super attracted to how confident and self-assured Courtney is, and that’s kind of a significant expression of that. Love her because she’s a messy bitch, not in spite of it. Also for the sake of challenge – you are welcome to stay that close to me instead of shuffling away again every time you get food, Court.”

“Score, finally a guy that doesn’t think it’s weird and gross,” Courtney grins, raising her arm in fake celebration, letting it fall down around his shoulders as she shifts even closer into his side.

“I kind of get that, though,” Kimmy starts, “like, anything is kinda cool if it’s the right person, you know? I dated this guy for a super long time that farted a heap and I thought it was super cute when we were together.”

“If only Sam thought me leaving tiny bits of food around was endearing…” Olivia trails off, sighing, and Shayne laughs.

“That’s not gross, Liv, its just weird.”

“Does that mean there’s hope for me and my stinky geese?” Damien asks.

“Stinky geese?” Kimmy enquires, eyebrow raised.

“My cats. I call them geese because my building doesn’t allow cats,” he explains, “and yes, they smell pretty weird sometimes. Although I have managed to get the smell out of the house in general these days, it’s just sticking your face in them isn’t the most pleasant experience.”

“Then don’t stick your face in them?” Olivia suggests.

“You’ve clearly never owned a pet, Liv,” Courtney replies, laughing, and their conversation moves on, away from Shayne and Courtney.

“Love being a total sap for you, my beautiful angel,” Shayne turns his head slightly to whisper in her ear again, when the others aren’t watching any more. She shivers slightly in response, knowing he’s intentionally pulling up their context from the previous night.

“Hey hey everyone,” Sarah moves into their conversation a few minutes later, “for those of us going on tour, so Damien, Liv, Shayne, Courtney – we need to finalise room arrangements and the like for hotel bookings, which would normally be a gendered split down the middle for you four like at previous Games, but…”

“We’re happy with whatever is considered work-appropriate. We get it’s a work trip,” Shayne replies, shrugging, taking a mental note of the truth to tell Courtney after.

“Well, we have a more complicated split anyway with support crew and the like this time – so like, Liv would probably be with me, and Damien with Ian, and you two,” Sarah explains.

“That’s fine with me,” Damien answers.

“Yeah, same,” Olivia agrees, “and I hazard to guess they’ll refuse to say it but when was the last time you slept in separate beds?” she turns to Shayne and Courtney.

“Um, yeah, I had to stay at my Dad’s place one night a few weeks back and let’s just say I did not get to sleep very easily,” Courtney admits.

“Yeah, that sucked. I lied, we’re much happier sharing,” Shayne admits, shrugging.

“All good, guys, I’ll confirm that arrangement then,” Sarah nods, before moving away from them again.

“Is our no sex at work rule going to exist on tour? Because I kinda hope it doesn’t, weeks without touching you when we’re in the same place seems difficult…” Shayne whispers, turning to Courtney again, not entirely caring if the others have not yet moved back to a different conversation.

“Let’s leave that rule for the office and specific shoot locations,” Courtney replies, softly, grinning.

“I wish I could lip read,” Olivia complains, their eyes shooting back to her.

“Let’s not try and get the content of their discussions today, especially the ones they think are too explicit to say out loud, okay?” Damien pushes.

“Yeah, yeah, okay. I just want gossip, man,” Olivia grins, “and there isn’t much coming out of this challenge that we are hearing.”

“I’ll give you one thing, Liv?” Courtney offers, grinning.

“Ooooh, yes?”

“Probably the dirtiest thing he’s said all day was what he whispered in my ear when we first sat down. Now, you have mild gossip, give us a break?”

“Okay, and also, oooooh Shayne’s getting better at this,” Olivia grins.

“I am,” he grins, before thankfully, the conversation again moves on.

Their first tour planning meeting after lunch is largely a non-event, the producers going through the release schedule for while they’re on tour. There’s enough of them to justify using the large meeting room, and Courtney and Shayne sit beside each other, chairs a work-appropriate distance apart although Shayne’s hand is stretched out to rest just above her knee, her hand entwined with his. There is very little need for their presence, so he keeps his phone out, sending her a stream of messages despite the fact he knows her own phone is on silent, face down on the table in front of them.

“I’m low key proud about yesterday, although I also very much need a break today.”

“Could do with a makeout sesh in our fav bathroom between meetings, though?”

“And maybe a tiny bit of chest touching, because I know you’re just wearing that grey mesh bra you say is boring and not sexy today but I actually love it because it’s so casual and relaxed and… you.”

“Not that I don’t also seriously love you in lace. Specifically black lace.”

“tbh I love you in anything, but my favourite is when something is especially you (because I love you) or when you’re trying to do something sexy for me (because I love being desired by you)”

“it took me a while to get used to the fact that we are equally into each other, but now it’s just like… damn. This was worth waiting for, and now I’m probably going to have sex with the same person for the rest of my life and I couldn’t be happier about that.”

“I should probably pay attention to this meeting but it’s easy for my thoughts to just spiral once I start putting them out there.”

He actually listens to his own advice, at that point, subtly flipping his phone over and resting it face-down on the table, beside Courtney’s, zoning back in to hear they are still discussing release schedules. He isn’t entirely sure why they all needed to be here for this one, and it’s a relief when Garret calls a break five minutes later, everyone standing up and starting to move around, a few of the production team leaving the room.

“How long we got?” Damien asks Ian, from beside Shayne, twisting his neck around to stretch it.

“Like five,” Ian answers, “promise the next one is more for us as well, discussing the actual content of the live show.”

Shayne’s eyes flick back to Courtney, watching her eyes scanning across her phone. He’s about to ask her if she’d like to go for a walk when she evidently makes the same decision, standing up without letting go of his hand. He doesn’t know if it’s obvious they’re walking out – there are a crowd of other people moving around, so he hopes it isn’t – and there isn’t really time to walk to the single bathroom down the hall. Instead, they go slightly down the hall towards the studios before Courtney stops, Shayne immediately wrapping his arms around her and pressing a firm kiss to her lips. She deepens it immediately, hands sliding into his back pockets and squeezing as his tongue makes its presence in her mouth felt.

“We need to go back,” Shayne is literally gasping for air when they part, “also that was so good I forgot to breathe. I swear to god you’re the only person that could be so damn perfect I forget to _breathe_.”

“Please don’t forget for too long, I need you to stick around,” she grins, tugging at his hand to pull him back towards the meeting room. Thankfully, others are still returning when they do, and only Olivia and Damien throw them suspicious smirks when they again sit down.


	26. Chapter 23: Calm Down

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content warning for one single explicit statement in one paragraph but the rest of it is pretty PG. Also, throwing in some side references to another ship every now and then from here on out.

They do actually have to concentrate while they discuss the final details of the live shows. They’d had a rough rehearsal of the basic outline of the show the previous week, but it was improv, so each would be a little different. Still, they do a final table read of one of the more sketch-y sections of the show, and a vague run-through of the other segments or at least a description of what they are and in what order. It keeps Shayne’s – and Courtney’s, because truthfully, as much as she was enjoying Shayne’s more vocal comments throughout the day, they were making her own thoughts go a particularly Shayne-focussed direction – mind occupied, for the most part. Mostly.

Courtney shifts in her seat, sitting up straight and tall as she speaks to a question Ian had asked about one of her more active portions of the show. It causes a thought to emerge in Shayne’s head that shocks him so much he splutters into a coughing fit, grabbing for his glass of water to try and stop it before it gets too disruptive. Courtney stops speaking mid-sentence, and he can feel her side-eye him before she continues.

“Sorry, I don’t know what that was,” he mumbles when she finishes, trying to brush it off. Courtney shrugs as if accepting his apology.

“Okay, what actually was that spluttering?” she asks him after the meeting, grinning, and he laughs.

“I shocked myself with my own thought…” he trails off, “I don’t think I could actually verbalise it here.”

“You think I could convince you?” she asks, raising an eyebrow, and he glances around to ensure they’re very much alone – they’ve wandered away from the meeting room off into the breakroom, and everyone else has stayed out in the office or gone elsewhere. Someone could probably see them, but they definitely can’t be heard.

“You could convince me to do pretty much anything,” he replies, honestly, “but mostly by touching me and I know you aren’t going to do much of that right now.”

“You never know…” she trails off, glancing around herself as she casually walks backwards into the part of the room most hidden from the windows, and she lets go of his hand as she walks but he follows her anyway. She laces their hands together again when he stops in front of her, although she doesn’t get any closer. “You sure you can’t verbalise it?”

“You sure you want me to?” he jokes back at her, but she merely raises an eyebrow expectantly. He can’t help but glance around nervously before he decides it’s safe to speak. They’re as alone as they could be in this office, probably, but his still leans closer and lowers his voice, “I just… you shifting around and sitting up tall like that just made me think how much I would like to be… okay, god, this is difficult to say.”

He laughs his own awkwardness off, and it causes her to settle her face, looking at him softly.

“You don’t have to say anything if you aren’t comfortable with it, baby, I’m just messing with you a little,” she reassures him, but he shakes his head.

“I want to, really. So, um, yeah- it kinda made me think how much I’d like if you were sitting on me like that riding me,” he admits. He lets himself rock backwards away from her again, after he finishes, and he knows he’s blushing but watching Courtney react sends his confidence skyrocketing. She lets out a breathless laugh, her own cheeks reddening slightly, and she doesn’t meet his eyes for a second until she does and her gaze is so hot he can’t look away.

“Hey hey dudes, can we come in or are you in the middle of saying something we don’t want to hear right now?” Damien’s voice breaks through the energy between them what could be full minutes later, although both of them freeze, not saying anything for a moment.

“Uh… uhuh. Yeah,” Courtney laughs, still sounding a little breathless, as she finally tears her gaze away from Shayne and up to the ceiling. “Post saying something. You can come in. Actually, you should come in, so I don’t accidentally do something not work appropriate.”

“I don’t think it would be accidental,” Shayne finally speaks up, clearing his own throat when his voice comes out slightly strained, “but yes, okay, I am going to – go make myself a coffee. Courtney, want one? That doesn’t mean follow me, by the way.”

“Oh I know, I need a moment with you not within touching distance. Yeah, coffee would be good,” she answers, letting go of his hands and pushing him away from her gently as she flops down on the beanbag just behind herself.

“Well we certainly interrupted something,” Ian grins, walking in behind Damien with his own cup of coffee and an energy bar. Evidently, it’s break time. “What’s this about things we don’t want to hear?”

“Oh, sorry Court,” Damien starts, but she waves him off.

“All good. You sure you want to hear about Shayne and my sex life, Ian?” she turns to him, straight-faced, and he pauses for a moment as he takes a seat at the table, seriously considering.

“How much detail we talking here? Because no, but also, yes, I want gossip and if Damien knows it then it’s probably alright?”

“It’s not actually really about that,” Courtney laughs, “Shayne is super shy and reserved, he’s not exactly the most vocal about anything sexual, even to me. So I challenged him to tell me everything that crosses his mind about me for a whole day, today, no matter what it is, and he is… well. Getting better at saying things, let’s just say that.”

“Court bourt be horny,” Ian laughs, and she shrugs, grinning.

“Hey, he’s my boyfriend and he’s super hot and he’s saying some lovely things- but we are at work, and I will have you know we have an extremely strict rule about how far we go at work and we’ve never even slightly broken it,” she reinforces, and he nods.

“Yeah, look, from a HR point of view we can’t have anything knowingly happening here… But from a friend point of view, I like to turn a blind eye whenever you two disappear off together.”

“It doesn’t happen that often, really,” Damien defends them, “and they’ve both said they just make out, I very much believe that.”

“Oh no, I’m sure, it’s all good. Hearing about this challenge and Court openly admitting she’s gotta get away from him to calm down is the most direct I have ever seen you two,” Ian turns back to her, and she nods.

“We’re loosening up a little on how private we are around friends because we realised we were being a little more intense with the privacy than we wanted to be. But only a little. Something like today is not going to happen often, honestly, and I would possibly not be sharing as much as I am now if my mind wasn’t… distracted,” Courtney admits, shrugging. “I don’t know. I’m still trying to reassess what is cool to say and what isn’t.”

“We’re all adults, it’s not like any of us believed nothing happened between you guys – honestly I’m kind of glad you’re loosening up though, the fact you wouldn’t even joke about it when you were so open and jokey about the same kind of things in the past both when you were single and in other relationships always seemed a little… worrying to me,” Ian admits, and Courtney nods.

“Yeah, I guess it was different. I don’t know, we just-” she cuts herself off, Shayne returning with two mugs of coffee and pausing, evidently unsure where to sit. “Come sit with me, it’s fine,” Courtney tells him, before continuing her original statement, “-this relationship is different to anything else for both of us and it’s a lot more intense. It made it seem a lot more private and just while we were getting used to everything, yeah, it was easier just to stay quiet on everything remotely sexual. Or romantic, honestly.” Courtney pauses again, taking the mug Shayne hands her and shifting slightly to give him more room beside her. It is a two-person beanbag, but still. “Everything kind of changed when we went public, because like, if I can say I’m in love with him on a podcast and video that last I knew had close to a million views – why should I be embarrassed expressing similar things, or even slightly more direct things, to our closest friends?”

“I know I missed the start of this conversation, but I’m just going to say that exactly what she said is probably what I think too because we have talked about this a bit lately,” Shayne adds, shrugging, before settling against her side.

“Mhm,” she confirms, head shifting to fall against his shoulder.

“We absolutely don’t mind if you guys are a little more open in front of us. Like, I know I joke about not wanting to know anything – but I have absolutely no problem with you guys being a little more affectionate and even a little more sexual in public, because you guys are probably… no, you’re definitely the most serious relationship I know of, but probably the most reserved,” Damien admits.

“I could possibly say the same, I think,” Ian shrugs, “or, maybe not the most reserved, I know of some weirdo couples that barely act like they’re more than friends which definitely isn’t you guys, but still.”

“Why do you say most serious, out of interest?” Shayne asks, “not that I’d debate that, we are very much so – hell, Kari quizzed me about marriage and kids like two weeks after we got together – but just wondering.”

“Wait, was this when she was here? That seemed like a less-than-friendly conversation,” Ian raises an eyebrow, and Shayne shrugs.

“She wasn’t exactly on board with this initially. She’s always been a little weird about Shayne, and she kind of stereotyped him as one person that he very much isn’t and was trying to be protective of me based on that. But, she’s apologised and totally changed her tune now, so,” Courtney explains, and Ian nods.

“To answer Shayne’s question, though – you very much act as a team. Anything you say about your relationship is in partnership, and the way you talk about your relationship is super mature and clear too,” Ian shrugs.

“And I mean-“ Damien adds, “my best friend just mentioned the words marriage and kids in front of me for the first time ever but I’m not remotely surprised that you did so offhandedly and like that’s definitely something you’ve discussed and agreed about.”

“We ended up discussing it when we both agreed it was too early to do so just because – I couldn’t really dodge Kari asking me, and I didn’t want her to know where I stood but Courtney not to, so,” Shayne shrugs, “and we were on the same page, which is what matters.”

“Can we ask what page that is?” Ian asks, cautiously, “and it’s totally cool if no, promise we’re not needling you for information, it just interests me.”

Shayne glances towards Courtney, not knowing how to answer, and she lifts her head away from him slightly so their eyes can meet in silent discussion.

“You can ask,” Courtney looks back to them, “we definitely want to get married someday. We don’t know when that will be, there’s not really a clear pathway to when – but someday, for sure.”

“We were pretty clear that we’re in this forever from the start, so marriage was kind of an easy one. I’m very into the idea of making us a formal, lifelong thing when we decide that’s appropriate for us. Also, I am low key very excited to be able to put a whole lot of effort into finding a ring,” Shayne grins, reaching across to take her left hand and rub his thumb across the top of her fingers, below her first knuckle. He knows it isn’t subtle in the slightest, but she grips his hand to hold him in place, and he can’t bring himself to care.

“I may have already told Courtney I’m going to be best man at your wedding like – a couple days after you got together,” Damien admits, “it was mostly a joke, it just kind of slipped out and I didn’t mean to be pushy, but she just ran with it.”

“It honestly didn’t click until a couple of days later that you said that,” Courtney admits, “which probably says something about how serious we were from the start, that it didn’t actually stand out to me. It just kinda was.”

“Let’s hope I do pick you to be best man whenever it does happen, then,” Shayne laughs, as does Damien.

“Are we going to see mini-Shayne-and-Courtney’s sometime in the future too?” Ian asks, and Courtney shrugs, glancing to Shayne to let him answer.

“Less firm answer there. We’re both not entirely committed to the idea of having kids in the general sense, but the idea of raising a family together is… yeah, that’d be nice. But at this point, it could be a family in the traditional sense, or it might be a family of dogs,” Shayne replies.

“Did I live out my quiet little domestic fantasy when Shayne was co-parenting Django with me when he was getting super anxious before I took him to Utah? For sure,” Courtney laughs, “but yeah, who knows about actual human kids. If we decide to do that, it’ll be more distant than the marriage thing.”

“Shayne and Courtney and a family of dogs sounds like a good family, too,” Damien replies, “I gotta find someone to help out with all my goddamn geese.”

“It is truly something to let your geese comments fall out of context,” Courtney laughs, “but yes, Damien, anything happening for you these days? I won’t bother asking you Ian, I know that’s a no there.”

“I’m not really looking, or at least, I dunno,” Damien shrugs, “there’s someone I met a while back that I have a lingering thing for, but I don’t think they’re remotely interested. But, truth be told, you guys getting together has kind of made me want to get a little more active in the dating thing again because – I dunno. You’re so happy, I kind of want to find something like that too.”

“I think I know who you’re talking about,” Courtney nods, “and I hope you do find something, whether it’s with her or elsewhere. You deserve to have a nice, chill, comfortable relationship for once, hey?”

“Exactly,” Shayne backs her up, “I also think I know who you’re talking about and I wouldn’t be so quick to write that off, Dames.”

“Am I the only person who doesn’t know this person?” Ian asks, raising an eyebrow, and Damien shrugs.

“Let’s just say…” he trails off, glancing around for a moment, “maybe they are a newer coworker who I am not going to name out loud while they are in the building, because at the moment, it’s just like an inkling of something that I haven’t got particularly emotionally invested in. I don’t know.”

“Oh, yes, I know who you mean,” Ian replies, “hm, don’t want to be an ass, but do we know if she’s single?”

“She is. Ended a long-term relationship not long before starting here,” Courtney supplies, “and obviously it’s totally up to you Damien, but if you want me to throw some hints out there to try and at least get you two talking more as friends, I can do that.”

“I… wouldn’t hate that, actually, Court. Nothing crazy, just, I turn into awkward Damien when I try to convince myself to just talk to her and I end up going back to you guys because it’s easier, but I- need to find more reasons to get to know her,” Damien admits.

“I’ll see what I can do, I talk to her a fair bit because she’s kind of gone to me as another girl around the office most of the time and… I figure I’m slightly more approachable than Liv,” Courtney laughs.


	27. Chapter 24: Don't Jinx It

“Thank you for challenging me to do that,” Shayne starts, genuinely, as they drive home after their final meeting. “It actually started some conversations with our friends that felt nice to have, which was an unexpected side effect, but I’ve got more and more okay with telling you the dirty stuff throughout the day.”

“I’ve liked it too - for both those reasons,” Courtney replies, quickly glancing over at him before looking back to the road, “I did not expect you to get bold enough to comment on how I taste when we were sitting in public, or to get explicit out loud about wanting me to ride you, but I’m so glad you did. I’m also glad that there were all these other little things in there, too. Also very happy if you want to keep it up for the rest of the night.”

“As long as you’re cool with it getting more intense because now we’re alone and I’m getting quite comfortable with it,” Shayne answers, and she nods, settling into a surprisingly comfortable and open conversation with him about what they like, and what they want to try. She admits she holds back a little because he does, and he admits he wants them to start holding back less.

“I just… really enjoy doing things for you. You’re my girl, my angel, I want to make you feel good,” Shayne’s voice turns to a soft murmur as she parks at their apartment, and she’s glad they’re home.

“I love you. Come on, want to turn Friday date night into cuddle and talk about feelings night?” Courtney asks, opening her door.

“Yeah. That sounds perfect,” Shayne replies as they walk towards their front door, “I was going to cook curry for dinner, that cool with you? I’ll put it on soon and then it can just kinda do its thing.”

“I can help prep if you want,” she shrugs, “I kinda love cooking with you. Just another domestic peace thing.”

“You can help – I love it too,” he replies, putting his laptop down on the coffee table and moving into their usual just-got-home routine. “I think love is becoming one of my most used words, but I’m also feeling it so much these days.”

“I’ve noticed that too – for both of us. Love and contentment has kind of become my default state of being,” Courtney replies, sliding up behind where he is standing in the kitchen, wrapping her arms around him and pressing a kiss to his clothed shoulder.

————————————————

It takes a little while for all of them to get used to being on tour – the first show in LA is a simple way to ease into it, not really any different to the times they’ve done conventions and the like before. San Diego, too, is easy: it’s only a couple hours’ drive from LA, and they have time, so Shayne, Courtney, Damien and Ian take the PCH in Ian’s car and make a day out of it, stopping along the way to enjoy the beach life they so rarely actually engage in despite living in California. It’s nice to hang out the four of them, and the couple make a point of not putting either of the other two into too much of a third-wheeling position, given Damien and Ian openly admit they certainly aren’t the closest of the cast.

It’s harder once they start moving, and the travelling schedule is kind of gruelling – they’ve got 12 shows in 4 weeks, which is all well and good and actually pretty easy, but they tend to have half a day in one place then one in the next and then a weird 3-day break before they have to move again. It’s mildly disconcerting, although at least they’re following a standard path in a rough anti-clockwise circle around the country, so the time zones aren’t too hard to manage.

“You love the audience stuff, don’t you?” Ian asks Courtney as they wait backstage, post-meet and greet but pre-show, halfway through their second week at their Dallas stop.

“It’s kinda cool to see how many people identify with our stuff and how diverse our fanbase is. We’re doing positive things for young-ish people, you know? That’s kinda cool,” she shrugs. “The Q&A on stage is a little more unpredictable, though. I get why we do it, and it’s cool when they ask about our stuff, but you know. I’m mildly surprised we haven’t got a Shourtney question yet.”

“Don’t jinx it,” Shayne laughs, “I’ve got a couple of ‘hey you and Courtney seem really happy together it’s cool but I won’t bug you about it’ type comments in meet and greets, which is chill, though.”

Their show progresses as well as it usually does when they go on-stage, and Courtney pulls out Boneless for the audience TNTL thing. It’s genuinely _harder_ to make random fans laugh than it is their coworkers, but she knows they get some pity-spits for the sake of the stage and bringing out their regular characters is always a good bet. Shayne, for his part, goes the same way with his dumpster wizard, making it a joke about Dallas culture. He hasn’t done a single shirtless bit for the tour so far, and there’s a clear reason why – it’s a little more sketchy when they’re trying to make slightly younger teenagers laugh instead of just each other – but she wonders if it’s an obvious enough difference to anyone other than her. Their third audience Q&A question for the evening answers her question, in a way.

“So, this is a weird one- but is there a particular reason why if there is going to be a shirtless dude in a Smosh video, it’s usually Shayne?” someone asks, and there is a clear joking intent behind it. Courtney can’t stop herself from laughing in response, glancing over to see Shayne reddening slightly. They make a point of not sitting beside each other for these things, usually, and today Damien is between them.

“It’s not like we actively set out to have it be Shayne all the time,” Ian takes the initial response, “in sketch stuff it’s just because he’s usually the one who plays that kind of Bryce Chryson-esque character who is more likely to be shirtless. Also, he has the abs for it. Pit stuff – well, Shayne?”

“Nice stereotyping there, thanks Ian. I mean, I know I do it a lot, but it’s mostly because I know it’s become a thing and it makes all these guys laugh,” Shayne brushes the question off, “I’m not like… yeah, it’s not really anything in particular. We’ve all done things like that at different times for the joke, it’s kind of a cheat one, easy way to make someone laugh.”

“Except Liv, Liv always has that damn tracksuit on…” Courtney shifts the conversation slightly, hearing Shayne struggling to fight off referencing his own physicality. It earns a decided cheer from the audience.

“Hey, I’m not wearing it now!” Olivia defends herself, and they move on. Apparently it is the night for harder questions, though, because two questions later, another causes her to briefly flick her eyes up to the ceiling in some vague attempt to control her nerves about how it’s going to end. It’s not as bad as it could be, honestly, but still.

“Okay so I hope it’s chill to ask this, but a few of us kinda wondered why there’s been a noticeable decrease in Shourtney-bait thumbnails and things since that reveal, seems a little… opposite of expected?” a slightly older fan asks, and Sarah raises an eyebrow at them from where she is standing with the mic in the audience as if to reject the question, but Shayne glances to Courtney quickly for a moment before lifting his mic up to reply.

“Look, that’s probably more a question for our editing team or Sarah and Ian than Courtney or I, but- we went pretty strong on the wanting privacy thing early on, and everyone at the office was really good with that, so I’m guessing scaling back on the thumbnails was part of that too,” Shayne shrugs.

“It was pretty much that,” Sarah pipes up, from her spot in the audience.

“Also, like, would Shourtney bait even be as effective now everyone knows they’re together for real? It’s kinda lost some of its impact,” Ian adds, with an almost-hesitant laugh.

“See now you have to actually watch _all_ our videos if you want to know where your Shourtney content is,” Courtney speaks up, trying to throw some humour into her tone, and by the audience laugh in response it seems to work. “But for the record, yeah, thanks for keeping things mostly chill, guys. It has been appreciated. And that question was fine – we just want to avoid any questions about our relationship itself.”

“Is there even as much stuff in videos with you guys anymore?” Ian jokes.

“For these guys that analyse every time we look at each other and every time Court jabs me in the arm? Definitely,” Shayne replies, shaking his head, “Also, I’ll bait you all right now: there are at least two videos we filmed before we left LA that will be released while we’re on tour that are just full of stuff. Look out for those.”

“Oooh, spoilers,” Courtney replies, grinning at him, mostly for show, “I think there’s like four, actually. But yeah, we’re loosening up a little – in videos only, not much else – so watch out for that, shippers. Just keep your more intense shipping out of our mentions and we’ll all be good.”

“So I guess I did jinx it,” Courtney points out to their group after the show, and Ian laughs.

“Apparently. All good though, guys? I know it’s harder to manage sudden stuff up on stage – but happy to take notes for how to respond in future, if you’d like,” he asks.

“Nah, it’s all good. We had kind of discussed the possibility of it coming up somehow and it was casual and abstract, nothing too specific, so it’s fine,” Shayne reassures him, “as long as we keep it casual and unspecific we don’t mind.”

“I feel like it’s increasingly redundant for me to say this but – yeah, what he said,” Courtney replies, “the fact we answered it will definitely get out and we might get a little more in future shows now, though.”


	28. Chapter 25: Invasive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the next few chapters, there are some characters in this fic who are fans with names. All of these names were chosen to try and be generic. They do not represent any real people or fans whatsoever and if they happen to do so it is mere coincidence.
> 
> Also, the characters are very dismissive of some other ships in this particular chapter. This is existing within this fic world, where there are some real relationships which conflict with other ships. It is not in any way a commentary on the real world.

It is not until the following week – in Atlanta – before anything else is said, but it comes in a different way, a girl in her early teens awkwardly asking if she can ask Courtney something one-on-one midway through their meet-and-greet session. There’s a few groups of people meeting them all at once, this time, and it actually makes for easier conversation.

“Sure, Maddie,” Courtney replies, lowering her own voice as they step slightly further away from the others.

“So, I… I’m sorry if this is too invasive to ask, but basically, I’m openly bi at school and things, but I recently got into a relationship with a straight guy and now I’m having this weird thing where people are asking if I’m straight now, and I know I’m not, but I don’t really know how to answer them without being dismissive of my boyfriend – I was just wondering if you maybe had some ideas since you’re in a similar situation of not being straight but dating a guy?” she asks, cautiously, and Courtney nods.

“Hey, it’s fine, and yeah I totally understand what you mean – it’s actually… something I struggled with a bit, I was second-guessing whether I still had a right to identify as not straight when I first started dating Shayne, and he might be better at answering this than me, actually, because it’s something he was super cool about. But basically, the way I’ve come to see it is… I’m still me, and my sexuality isn’t something that only exists when I’m actively looking for someone to date, it’s part of my identity in a whole lot of ways. Just because I’m dating a straight guy and intend to be with him for the foreseeable future doesn’t mean that part of my identity doesn’t still exist in other ways, you know?” Courtney replies, shrugging slightly as she finishes.

“I guess that, yeah, that makes a lot of sense actually, thank you. The guy I’m dating is a little weird about it, which doesn’t help, he’s kind of scared I’ll dump him for a girl which… it’s not super serious with him, I’m only 14, that might happen, so I don’t really know what to say to that either,” Maddie adds, shrugging.

“Is it cool if I call Shayne over?” Courtney asks, glancing around to see he’s currently just talking to someone with Ian and Damien. “He’d have a good response for that.”

“Yeah,” Maddie confirms, just as Shayne meets Courtney’s gaze, and she subtly indicates for him to come over, which he does.

“Hey, it was Maddie, yeah?” he greets her, standing just beside Courtney, although not as close as they might usually.

“Yeah, hi, I was just talking to Courtney about, um… I’m kinda in a similar situation to her, I’m openly bi but dating a straight guy, not super seriously in my case, and he’s like… openly expressing worry that I’ll dump him for a girl. I don’t really know how to deal with it,” Maddie explains, shrugging, “Courtney said you’re pretty cool with this stuff.”

“I think the way I see it-“ Shayne starts, “basically… I don’t mean to hate on your boyfriend, but he’s being straight-up biphobic by saying that, and he might not even realise it. The possibility that you might break up with him because you want to date someone else isn’t any bigger because you’re bi, it’s the same as if it was a straight couple and one of them wanted to break up to date someone else. I don’t know if maybe you could try and explain to him something like that, about it not being any different to any other relationship?”

“That’s… actually a good way to put it, yeah, thank you, I’ll try that. Thanks, guys. I didn’t want to be like, invasive by asking stuff that’s almost about your relationship but… I don’t exactly have anyone in my personal life to ask about this kind of stuff,” Maddie replies, shrugging.

“It’s totally cool, Maddie, this stuff really isn’t the kind of invasive we’re worried about. I wonder if maybe there might be an online service or a group of people you could find that you could talk about this stuff with? Because I know, for me, it has been helpful to have a couple of friends who aren’t straight, to just kind of help me out if something difficult comes up,” Courtney replies, Shayne nodding in response.

“There’s like a local youth pride support group that I’ve been considering joining, maybe I’ll give that a try,” she nods, before they move back to their larger group conversation.

“What was that girl talking about?” Damien asks them in their brief break before the show, but Courtney shakes her head.

“It’s all fine, no need to share,” she answers, and Damien nods in understanding.

“All good, just making sure you didn’t get put on the spot about something relationship-related given I’m guessing you asked Shayne over.”

————————————————

They have their first on-stage slip up of sorts later that night. There’s an extra-loud cheer from the audience when they walk out for their Q&A at the end of the show, and Ian looks around in surprise in response. It is only when Shayne and Courtney see his pointed stare at them that they realise they’re still holding hands from when they were waiting backstage, and they’re still standing closer than they have been on the stage.

“Oops,” Shayne acknowledges with a laugh when they’ve all sat down, this time with both Damien and Ian between them, “although the video that went up today was probably worse.”

“Oh, what video?” Ian asks, pushing the joke along.

“That try not to laugh where I was the _only_ person to stay in the same shirt for the entire episode,” Olivia supplies their answer, grinning, “and yes, that means you get to see shirtless Ian.”

“Okay, that was certainly an _interesting_ episode depending how you look at it-, but let’s get to the questions hey?” Courtney asks, throwing over to Sarah to manage the Q&A and move onto, hopefully, less risky territory. The first few questions are routine, and they move through them with ease and humour, the audience laughing along. It’s the second-last question which throws a curveball none of them really expected at all.

“So, wacky one, but I’ve seen more and more people talking about this conspiracy theory that Shourtney isn’t real, that’s why it’s all private and whatever, and it’s just to get views and is being used to hide some less straight cast relationships… comments?” A boy in his late teens asks.

“Um-“ Sarah starts, taking the microphone from him, and there is a ripple of shock through the audience, all five cast members on stage silent.

“You gotta know this is a ridiculous question, right?” Ian replies, after a moment, incredulously.

“I had no idea that conspiracy theory existed but I gotta say it is way off base,” Damien takes the answer next, after glancing to either side to see both Shayne and Courtney staring rather blankly ahead of them, “I’m guessing you’re insinuating Shaymien or something, which- nope. Shayne and I are both very much straight, never a chance that would happen. And Shayne and Courtney are very much together.”

“We could quite easily not dignify that theory with a response,” Shayne starts, seeming to find his voice, although it is far from light, “and sorry if I’m a little terse, dude, but you’ve kind of just attacked my personal life there. Courtney and I dating is very much real, we don’t need to share every detail of it for that to be true – we can keep private about whatever we choose to. As for hiding other relationships – no. We’re currently the only relationship within the Smosh team. Also, while I’m talking about this – yeah, Damien and I are really close and kind of affectionate sometimes, and that means absolutely nothing except we’re good friends. Guys can be like that without it being romantic. You are allowed to have good, positive, close friendships with your male friends because toxic masculinity sucks.”

“For sure,” Damien agrees.

“Absolutely that,” Ian reinforces, before adding, “and, guys, Court and Shayne don’t owe anyone anything when it comes to their relationship. If they never wanted to go public they could’ve totally done that too, but since they have, you gotta respect how they choose to handle things. It’s totally up to them at every point, questioning anything because they don’t choose to share everything is a pretty shit move. I know you guys all have your little fan theories about all of us and that’s fine to a degree, but- we are real people, and we’ve got our own real private lives too.”

“Thanks, Ian,” Courtney speaks up, knowing her own voice is less than stable but not wanting to have sat entirely in silence the whole time. Sarah gets the message and quickly pushes onto the final question next, and thankfully, it gives them space to head in a much calmer direction with their answers, focussing directly on their content.

“Jesus fucking christ,” Shayne mutters, the second they know their mics are switched off when they step offstage. Courtney, for her part, stays silent, head down as she walks along beside Shayne, hands stuffed in her own pockets.

“I’m sorry, guys, I’m trying to think how we can pre-screen all future questions or something now,” Ian replies.

“Shit, I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry I didn’t stop him I just didn’t know what to do,” Sarah rushes off stage behind them to meet up with them.

“It’s not your fault, Sarah,” Shayne reassures her, before they all return to uncomfortable silence as they move from the immediate backstage towards the dressing rooms. He reaches out to his side, hand gently resting on Courtney’s forearm above her pockets. It takes a moment, but eventually, she slides her hand out of her pocket and into his, gripping tightly and letting her stride take her closer to him.

“Are you okay, Court?” Olivia asks, concern evident in her tone, when they stop in the room where they had left all of their stuff.

“I’m fi-” she starts, cutting herself off when her voice comes out choked up. “I’m really fucking pissed and I can’t enunciate why and I know they were just trying to get a reaction probably and I probably gave them everything they wanted and I suck at being angry but I’m just- they fucking minimised this,” she lifts her hand, still in Shayne’s, to gesture between them, “to some bullshit nothing and-“ she cuts herself off, shaking her head as she feels hot tears sting in her eyes. She knows that it’s more than they’d usually do in front of anyone, but she can’t help it. She needs him.

Courtney turns around and steps closer to Shayne, arms wrapping tightly around him as she buries her face against the side of his neck. For his part, he immediately wraps his arms around her, holding her tightly against him.

“Court, baby,” he whispers, comfortingly, momentarily glancing up to silently ask the others give them some space. They do, as much as they can, all turning and moving over to the opposite side of the room.

“I’m sorry. I just needed you to hold me,” Courtney mumbles against his neck, and he can only barely make out the words, but he holds her tighter anyway.

“You don’t need to apologise, Courtney. You’re allowed to be angry, you’re allowed to be upset, and I’m here for you, okay? Always. You are _everything_ to me.”

“But our friends-“ she sighs.

“They are over the other side of the room not looking at us. Baby, I needed you to hold me too, okay? I’m angry too. They took something that is so important to me, got invasive about it, and questioned it even existing and made it completely abstract, and that hurt, a lot,” he murmurs, twisting to hide his own face against her as he feels his own eyes stinging with unshed tears.

“I love you,” she whispers, shifting slightly so her mouth isn’t muffled quite so much by his neck, “You put it into words. Thank you. I love you. This is… us is everything, I don’t question that in the slightest. It just… hurts to have to defend it against stupid shit.”

“I love you,” he replies, and they fall into a comfortable silence, still pressed tightly against each other. It’s a few minutes before they hear cautious footsteps approaching them, and half a gentle throat clear.

“It’s… Damien and Liv,” Damien starts, voice hesitant, “tell us to fuck off and we will immediately. We just wanted to…”

“That question was invasive and stupid and you have every right to be pissed. We can all get out of here now, so if you want to head back to your room… and we just wanted to check you’re okay?” Liv adds, also cautious.

“Thanks. We’re okay,” Courtney mumbles after a moment, raising her voice only slightly to do so. She ever so slightly loosens her hold on Shayne, asking a silent question, and he answers by loosening his own hold around her, both shifting around to face their friends, although their arms remain around each other. “It… yeah, it was minimising and shitty and kind of hurt to find out apparently a bunch of people think it’s just a fun little… conspiracy thing,” she explains, running her free hand up her face and through her hair. She can feel that her eyes are puffy and her makeup has run, but she can’t bring it in herself to care.

“I don’t know if it helps at all, but, we all very much see that your relationship is very real and very important to both of you. And we’re also happy to give you as much privacy as you want tonight – I know we were all going out tonight, but…” Damien trails off.

“Thanks, Liv and Dames,” Shayne answers, blinking to try and clear his eyes. “I think… we were all going back to the hotel before we went out anyway, yeah? Maybe… we do that, and Court & I can talk about what we wanna do.”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Courtney answers, Damien confirming. Courtney and Shayne keep their heads down when they leave, although thankfully the back entrance is clear this evening, holding hands as they walk slightly behind the rest of their group. The cast and Sarah pile into a maxi taxi together to head to the hotel, the crew not far behind them.


	29. Chapter 26: Friday Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, there is some alcohol consumption in this chapter and the next, including some excessive alcohol consumption. I am writing from the Australian perspective, where we have a horrible alcohol culture. Don't be like that. Drink responsibly. On to the fic!

“Do you know what you want to do tonight?” Shayne asks, the second the door shuts behind him and Courtney when they enter their room. There had been a plan that all of them – the cast and crew – would go out to a particular restaurant/bar hybrid for the evening, they’d already reserved a booth for all of them, and the social parts of their trip so far had been enjoyable.

“I… kind of want to still go out and just let loose a little and forget about it,” Courtney admits, “but I will probably be all over you tonight no matter what we do.”

“I’m the same. I still feel kind of shitty, but I think a night out might actually help. And I will not leave your side,” Shayne admits.

“I already know you’re going to say it’s okay, I think, but- I’m sorry I got so close to you literally right in front of them all, feelings came before privacy for a moment,” Courtney apologises, and Shayne nods.

“You’re right, it is okay. I totally understand. I was about to try and find a way to hold you too. But I… don’t think it matters. They’re our friends, Court, they know we’re serious, they know we’re in love and they know we were upset. I’m not really… I don’t mind that they’ve seen us like that, as long as you don’t mind either.”

“I don’t, really. I’d still prefer not to be put in a situation where I am upset in front of everyone, but given what it was, I don’t mind what happened. Now, come on, I need to fix this fucking makeup and we need to get more bar-appropriate clothing on,” Courtney affirms, brightening slightly as she wanders over to their bags.

————————————————

It’s a Friday night so the bar is busy and loud, and their group is no exception. Damien had raised an eyebrow in surprise when they appeared, smiling and hand in hand, with the others in the hotel lobby at the agreed meeting time. They brush him off, though, telling him they’d decided forgetting what happened was the best course of action.

There’s 12 of them out between the 5 cast members and the crew, and they slide into a large fit-for-purpose U-shaped group booth up in the back corner of the bar when they arrive. Ian sets up a tab, although he quickly reminds everyone that they _will_ be splitting it at the end of the night – it’s just for ordering ease. Shayne and Courtney, for their part, intentionally let themselves be pushed right into the back of the booth, between Sarah to Courtney’s side and Damien and Ian to Shayne’s. They have a travel day the following day, and no show until Sunday night, so a few of the group – Ian included – decide to go hard on the alcohol.

“I’m probably not going to have much, but you go for it if you want to, I’m happy to play supportive sober boyfriend if need be,” Shayne murmurs to Courtney, when the others start discussing drink choices before the drinks server comes to take orders, and Courtney nods.

“I’ll start off light and see how I go, but I’m in the kind of mood where the more I have the more I will be all over you, so.”

“I don’t mind,” Shayne replies, arm shifting around her shoulder. They both order a beer first, settling into the conversation around them, lightly pressed against each other. It’s nice. Although they often socialise outside work, it’s rare that a huge group of them – crew included – actually go out together with the intent to be a little wilder. They order a proper dinner, but Ian disappears off with a couple of the boys from the crew to grab one of the pool tables while they wait for it to arrive.

Everyone is already on their second round of drinks by the time the food turns up – for her part, Courtney had hesitated for a moment before agreeing to get brightly coloured cocktails with Sarah and Olivia, while Shayne was just on a second light beer.

“Want to try some?” She turns, leaning her head against his shoulder as she asks, gesturing to her own drink, “I think you’d like it.”

“Sure,” he answers, reaching out to pull it across the table towards himself before he lifts the straw to his lips and takes a small sip, tilting his head for the moment. “Not bad – what is it?”

“I can’t remember what they called it, but it’s a citrus-berry-vodka thing,” Courtney shrugs.

“All your apparently feminine cocktails that guys never order taste so much better than beer,” Damien slides into their conversation, fingers drumming against his own bottle.

“They really do – what kind you into, Dames, want to try any of these?” Sarah asks, and he shakes his head.

“Nah, not tonight, I do not do well with mixing beer and liquor even in small amounts. But I’m a fan of the citrusy stuff, usually,” he shrugs.

“Anything pink usually tastes great,” Shayne comments, gesturing towards Courtney’s which she is now drinking from herself, “a few times we’ve been out to bars and whatever and usually end up ordering the same thing.”

“You not going hard tonight either? I know Damien said he isn’t, but, you Shayne?” Liv questions him, and he nods.

“Already in a kinda shit mood for obvious reasons and I am known to be a sad drunk, so, keeping it light. I’ll let the socialising part of it cheer me up instead,” he smiles.

“And I’m usually flirty and/or horny drunk, so…” Courtney trails off, “I can cheer you up too.”

“You kinda do anyway, but yes, thanks,” Shayne laughs, letting himself follow his desire to lean over and press a brief kiss to her cheek.

The conversation at large is interrupted by the return of the guys from the pool table and their food all at once, and their conversation slows – although still continues across the entire table – as they have their meals. Ian is arguing fervently about the rules of pool, which is a clear indicator he wasn’t doing so well, while the others of them sway from topic to topic, never getting too deep. It’s the kind of pleasant that both Shayne and Courtney were looking for, and it is particularly helpful when it descends further into raucous laughter the further into the night – and, for some of them, drinks – they go.

“How you?” Courtney turns to Shayne, pulling herself out of a conversation with their sound guys down the table and him out of a conversation with Ian-and-others about cars, an hour or so post-dinner.

“Happy, very mildly tipsy, you?” Shayne answers, turning slightly in towards her to insulate their conversation from those around them.

“This is nice. I’m glad we came out. I’m… definitely a little drunk, but this is only my second cocktail, I don’t think I’ll go for a third unless we’re here for a really long time. I kinda want to play it up a little so I can be more all over you, though,” she replies, softly, and he can’t help but laugh lightly in response.

“The only people who can see us are these guys, I don’t mind if we get a little touchy. Even if you don’t play up the drunkenness,” he tells her, and she nods, her right hand moving under the table to rest against his thigh. For his part, he reaches his own hand down to lay on top of hers, letting his attention follow her as she falls back into conversation with the people around them about something he’s honestly not really listening to.

“Hey, Earth to Shayne,” Damien snaps him out of his daze some time later, and he blinks, gaze flicking over to his right.

“Sorry, I was- distracted. Did I miss something?” he answers, and the group laughs at him in response, before he lets himself be pulled into a conversation about the Chernobyl Netflix show, which he and Courtney had binged in the space of a couple nights just before the tour started. He has strong opinions on some of the historical liberties taken, and Damien and Sarah seem to agree wholeheartedly.

“Did we want any more drinks over here?” a server wanders over to their table another while later, and most of them say yes – Shayne gets a third beer mostly because his second is no longer cold – but Courtney declines. Another group takes that moment to leave for the pool tables again – Damien, Ian and Sarah included – but the others stay. As soon as the server moves on Courtney starts adjusting herself, throwing her legs sideways over Shayne’s and looping her arms around his neck to cuddle into his side, his own arms settling comfortably around her waist.

“You can sit on me if you’d like to,” he tells her, but she shakes her head.

“Easier to kiss you like this.”

She leans over, then, pausing for a beat to give him time to decline before she continues forward and presses her lips against his in a firm kiss. It breaks quickly, but he responds by kissing her again, before she pulls back, laughs lightly and leans her head against the side of his face.

“I love you,” he tells her gently, not bothering to lower his voice by much. Everyone else on the table is at least vaguely involved in other conversations, and no one seems to comment on their increased closeness, even when the group from the pool tables returns – apparently the area with the pool tables was rapidly being overtaken by rowdy older men and it was killing the atmosphere – and they are all again crammed into the booth, lining its seats.

The two of them intermittently join the conversations around them, although they stay close together.

“Hey hey hey everyone,” one of the crew members calls, when the majority of the next round of drinks arrives a further hour later. Shayne shudders at the thought of what the tab is going to cost before they split it, given they’ve now been sitting there for five hours and apparently don’t intend to leave in the near future. “Anyone up for some kind of group drinking game?”

“Oooooh, yes!” Ian calls out, “we can only really do something sitting though.”

“I mean, we could go the teenage route and go for never have I ever or something?” Sarah suggests, everyone quickly agreeing.

“So, it’s a sip if you have, yeah?” Olivia confirms, after a brief moment of organisation.

“And what about those of us without drinks?” Damien pipes up.

“You got a glass of water, that counts,” Sarah replies.

“Shayne and Courtney, you guys got something coming?” Ian gestures towards the empty space in front of them, and they nod, just as the server returns and slides two beers into the middle of the table, which they take.

“Beer to cocktails back to beer, that sounds dangerous,” one of the sound crew points out to Courtney, and she shrugs.

“The cocktails have worn off anyway, I’m barely tipsy.”

Their loosely organised drinking game finally starts, Ian taking the first question.


	30. Chapter 27: Never Have I Ever

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The same note about responsible alcohol consumption goes here as the previous chapter. Be safe.

Their game of never have I ever starts easily, with a bunch of mildly risqué questions asking about speeding, porn, pirating. It manages to get almost all of them to drink a couple times, which would be useful if this wasn’t being played so many hours into their evening when they’re already well-liquored.

“Never have I ever broken up with someone over political beliefs?” Ian asks in their second round around the table, ever the strange question, only half the table actually drinking in response.

“Stolen something physical as an adult?” Damien brings in his suggestion, and it causes them all to launch on Sarah, the only person to actually drink, for the story – which turns out to be way less intense than it sounded, instead being a grocery store checkout accident.

Shayne and Courtney, for their part, each come up with a vaguely sexual suggestion which they already know neither of them will have to actually drink to, although they catch a couple of others with it, no one seeking any more detail.

“Dated a coworker?” Sarah asks, after them, having swapped with Olivia again some time ago so she is now beside Courtney.

“Hey, targeted much?” Shayne laughs, reaching for his beer.

“Hey, I didn’t say it had to be a current coworker,” Sarah answers, and a couple of other crew – and Damien – also drink alongside them.

“Wait, Damien?” Shayne asks, eyebrow raised.

“Back at Disney, remember? Girl I was dating when we met was someone I’d met at a voice acting thing we both did,” he explains, and Shayne nods, the conversation moving on. The questions get more and more specific, although they are yet to have a single time when no one drinks.

“Gone notably further than kissing in public where someone could have seen you?” one of their crew offers their question, a couple of rounds around the table later. Ian and Olivia drink, and Courtney lifts up her almost-empty bottle, tilting it around for a moment of contemplation.

“Well, have you or not?” Damien pushes her, after a moment, and she laughs.

“I haven’t, I was just considering whether it was worth changing my answer right now so I can finish this and tap out of the game,” she replies, glancing over at Shayne to see him laugh, somewhere between embarrassed and on-board. She doesn’t do anything, though, placing her bottle back down on the table. “But all of you _are_ watching now, so no.”

The next question is notably broader, and all of them drink, Courtney finishing her drink and sliding it into the middle of the table.

“I’m out unless someone can come up with something for me to do instead of drinking. No more drinking for me,” she tells the table, and for the next few rounds, she simply leans back against Shayne and watches everything unfold, as the others who come to the end of their drinks opt instead to order another final round.

“You know, you could always kiss me instead of drinking,” Shayne suggests, while the others are debating someone’s answer to a question that they think requires a more technically accurate response.

“You just want me to kiss you,” she replies, laughing, pulling her face closer to his.

“Well, yeah,” he replies, grinning for a moment before he lifts his hand up to cup her face, gently pulling her towards him and into a firm kiss. She is the one to tentatively run her tongue along the join of his lips and deepen the kiss, but he responds in kind, and they let the outside world fall away from them for probably too long before they let the kiss slow to an end. Shayne’s hand doesn’t leave her cheek, though, and their foreheads press together as they remain close for a further few moments, slowly letting their surroundings come back into their focus. There is some mild jeering from their friends, and it causes them to pull back, glancing around to see they definitely had some kind of audience.

“Shut up,” Courtney admonishes them, although laughing lightly when she does so, “you could just not watch.”

“We didn’t until you were still kissing when it was Shayne’s turn to do a question,” Ian supplies.

“And Damien was the only one taking pictures,” Olivia points out accusatorily, but Shayne shakes his head and lets Damien speak.

“I’m not being a creep, Shayne and I had a conversation earlier that they wish there was more not-selfie and not-staged photo evidence of them being together, and I am providing that,” Damien defends himself, shrugging, “and I’ll delete it all if you want.”

“Damien is good, the rest of you could have just moved on to Sarah, you know,” Shayne laughs, “I don’t think I can come up with a question now. Also, my drink is also finished, so.”

“He diiiiiid come up with the suggestion of kissing instead of drinking so we can still play? Not like that, tho. Cheek kissing,” Courtney suggests, shrugging, “I’m running out of questions, though. How about we skip the circle thing and just do whoever has a good one?”

“That sounds good, I do have a good one though,” Sarah confirms, “never have I ever had sex in a Smosh office, not necessarily the current one?”

Ian is the only one to drink, of course, and it pushes them into a conversation teasing him, focus drawn away from the couple present. The game moves on, but Damien subtly slides his phone over to rest in front of them as it does. Shayne gets the message, picking it up and sliding open camera roll and holding it just below the edge of the table so he and Courtney can review the pictures. There’s only a handful, but they show them laughing at something earlier in the night, arms around each other, followed by the lead up to and the early stage of their kiss. Shayne drags his thumb across the screen to select all of them, sending them to both himself and Courtney before he locks the phone and slides it back over to Damien.

Their game evidently fizzles into non-existence while they are doing so, dissolving into a group of smaller conversations around the table, leaving Shayne and Courtney to return to their bubble, alone.

“I think I’m ready to leave soon,” Shayne admits after a moment, and Courtney nods.

“Same, it’s been a really fucking long night and I am starting to get post-tipsy sleepy. No sex tonight, just cuddles,” she answers him, matter-of-factly.

“I think that’s a very good idea, but I kind of want to kiss you again now,” he replies, “but if you just want to cuddle, that’s cool too.”

“No, as long as we hang around here I’m happy to keep up the kissing. Maybe even a little more if you can be subtle,” she replies, shifting slightly so her back is more to the rest of the table, pressing another kiss to his lips. His arm around her neck moves to run his fingers through her hair as she cups his face, intermittent kisses punctuated by soft words.

It is a jab to Courtney’s shoulder from Ian that breaks them apart some time later, the rest of the table having decided they also want to leave. They stay wrapped around each other as they all move out of the bar and out into the street, walking with varying levels of stability towards the taxi rank down the street. Neither Courtney nor Shayne are drunk enough to have any difficulty walking, but they still lean heavily against each other.

“So is this tipsy all over each other, or because of earlier, or just… cutting more of the privacy?” Damien asks them, carefully, when they slide into a taxi with him, Ian in the front seat giving directions to the driver.

“Considered and intentionally the latter,” Shayne answers, “probably not entirely unrelated to earlier, but there would’ve come a point where we all went out and this happened no matter what. We’re not particularly drunk.”

“Wonder what’ll happen if or when we do get drunk at an office party or something,” Courtney muses.

“You have much experience getting drunk together?” Damien queries, and Courtney shrugs.

“Only at home, and that usually ends in slightly worse than usual sex or just falling asleep on each other,” she admits.

“So if you two get trashed at our New Years party and someone walks in on you fucking in the bathroom, we know it’s bad sex?” Ian pushes them, after they’ve stepped out of the taxi at their hotel a couple of minutes later.

“Not bad,” Shayne answers, “it’s never _bad_ , but the few times we’ve done it drunk it hasn’t been quite as amazing as it usually is. It just gets clumsy and messy.”

“I almost feel bad that we’re getting all this info from you right now, like, will you be okay you said all this tomorrow morning?” Damien hesitates as they step into the lift together, and Courtney shakes her head, dismissing his worries.

“We might be pushing the edge of what we’re happy to say to you guys but we haven’t crossed the line. And, for real, Shayne had four beers over six and a half hours, I had two and two cocktails that were actually quite weak, the leaning against each other is a choice, not a necessity thing,” she reassures them, pulling away from Shayne – although still maintaining her grip on his hand – as they step out into the hallway, as if to prove she is still walking quite easily, heeled boots and all.

“Okay, then. I just hope these walls aren’t too thin,” Damien jokes, as they reach his and Ian’s door, and the other two pause.

“Nah, you won’t hear anything tonight. Too tired,” she laughs lightly, before they wave goodbye and head to their own rooms.

True to their discussion earlier, both Shayne and Courtney immediately head for the bathroom to brush their teeth before stripping down to their underwear and sliding into the bed, curling tight against each other, and falling asleep within minutes.

————————————————

Courtney wakes the next morning to the feeling of Shayne still spooning her, his thumb rubbing circles against her palm where their hands are tangled together under the covers in front of her. She grips his hand to signal she has woken, but she doesn’t move for a minute, relishing in the feeling of him surrounding her.

“I thought you’d be up working out?” She queries when she eventually twists around to face him.

“I didn’t want you to wake up alone after yesterday,” he answers softly, and it makes her smile.

“You’re gorgeous.”

“You’re my angel,” he replies, grinning a little wider as he does, “I might head down to the hotel gym soon, just for 45 minutes to do something, if you’re okay to chill here?”

“Mhm,” Courtney confirms, “I might just tidy up our stuff. We don’t have to meet the others for a couple hours, you can end your workout with a joint shower back here if you’d like. Because I would.”

“Perfect, I might make it even less than 45 then,” he laughs lightly, before reluctantly shifting off the bed to go and throw some gym clothes on.

“Can you pass my phone?” Courtney asks, when she spies it on the small table over near where they’ve sat their bags. He does just that, leaning over to press a kiss to her lips before he slips out.

Courtney ignores most of the messages on her phone, except the one from Damien containing the six pictures of them from the previous night. She saves them to her own camera roll and flicks between two for a moment, thoughts tossing up in her head. She flicks the favourite button on the best of the pictures - the one just as they press their lips together, still smiling, Shayne’s hand visible cupping her cheek and her arms clearly looped around his neck - before switching out to her notes app. She stares at the screen for a few minutes before starting to type.

“Someone asked a question-“ she types, before quickly erasing.

“Please don’t-“ no, too negative for the photo.

“I love Shayne-“ true, but not the point

“Last night we found out some of you guys have a conspiracy theory that we aren’t actually together and it’s made up for the views or something,” she finally settles on her first sentence, before continuing to type and erase until she’s happy with all of it.

“Last night we found out about a conspiracy theory that we aren’t actually together or we made it up for views. Then we had a little cry about it backstage because that hurt - it minimised something very, very real and important to us into an abstract nothing. And then our whole team went out post-show and we had a fun night out with our friends, during which one of them took a series of photos of us that I love a whole lot.

We still don’t owe you anything to prove our relationship exists. It’s not yours to question. I’m not posting this to prove anything - but I am posting because I really, really love this photo.

Please quit the conspiracy theories or at least, don’t tell us.

<3 you forever @shaynetopp”

She leaves the text sitting in her notes app as she reluctantly rolls out of bed and starts tidying their things back into their bags to leave in a few hours. She finishes just as Shayne returns, 45-odd minutes after he left, and she immediately reaches for her phone, showing him what she’s typed out.

“I want to post something and I kind of want it to be one of the pictures of us kissing,” she explains, softly, and he nods.

“I think that’s a good idea. You should post it, and I’ll repost and tack something else on too,” he tells her, his tone softening to match hers.

She copies the text out of her notes app and into the Instagram caption for the photo, pausing for half a second before hitting post and watching it upload. Shayne reaches for his own phone, immediately finding Courtney’s post at the top of his feed and reposting it with his own addition - two hearts and a kissing emoji.

“I love you so much, Courtney, baby,” Shayne speaks again, kneeling down into the bed beside where she’s sat herself, reaching out towards her. She takes his hands in hers but quickly pushes back, directing them both off the bed and into the bathroom.


	31. Chapter 27 Part 2: EXPLICIT CONTENT (Optional Scene)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This follows on from Chapter 27. It is entirely optional content and is not necessary for the story to make sense.
> 
> It is directly sexually explicit, and as always, please remember, this fic is not in any way portraying the actual people whose caricatures are used to fill its characters, rather it is an entirely fictional story. It should also never go anywhere near the people referenced.

“I love you, Shayne, you still up for shower sex?” She asks bluntly, and he nods, flicking the lock on the door shut behind them before turning and pressing her against it with a firm kiss. Her hands run impatiently down his sides for a minute before they reach the waistband of his gym shorts and push down, taking his underwear with them. It causes him to pull away from the door with her so he can pull his own shirt off, reaching over to turn the shower on and warm it up. He makes a show out of sliding her underwear, still the only thing she’s wearing, slowly down her legs to the floor, before they step into the shower together. It’s more cramped than their shower at home, but Courtney lets herself be pinned against the wall by another kiss, his arms wrapping tightly around her and roaming in unplanned lines all over her body. Her skin burns pleasantly under his touch and she responds by deepening their kiss even further, her hand wrapping tightly in his hair to hold him to her. He gasps lightly in response and she feels him hardening against her thigh. It causes her to reach her hand down between them, taking his penis in her hand and lightly stroking it as it hardens.

“In a hurry, Angel?” he asks, barely a whisper as they break their kiss to gasp for air.

“We can slow down if you want, but yeah,” she replies, “I’m already so fucking wet, baby, I want you to fuck me.”

He responds by running his own hands from her breasts where they have settled to in between her legs, stroking along the outside of her labia before spreading them gently with one hand and stroking through the wet heat between them with the other.

“So hot, baby,” he tells her, mouth now running distracted kisses across her cheek before he dips two fingers briefly inside her before bringing them up to his face and sucking them into his own mouth. She moans unashamedly and moves her own hands up to run over his chest, using the slight distance he’s created between them for copying out the lines between his muscles.

“You ready?” He asks her, some time of firm kisses and wandering hands later, going to line his dick up with her.

“Wait,” she says, after a moment, “can you lift me up?”

“Yeah, baby,” he answers, understanding, moving his arms to lift her up, her legs wrapping tightly around his hips as he presses her against the tile wall. He slowly presses his dick inside her, not pausing before he moves to repetitively thrust into her.

“Harder, baby, fuck,” she requests, and he complies, although his pace stays moderate, concentrating instead on making sure he pushes against her g spot with every thrust.

“You want it rougher today, baby? You want me in control fucking you?” He asks her, mostly rhetorical, but she moans a ‘yes’ anyway as she scratches her nails across his back, and it causes him to moan in response, head falling forward to meet her in a messy kiss. He knows they’re still a ways from finishing, arousal slowly building, and he mentally wrestles with himself for thirty seconds before remembering their conversations back in LA a few weeks ago. He’d taken on some more direct communication of what he wanted already, but he hadn’t gone all out with the in-the-moment dirty talk. And he knew she’d appreciate it now, after giving herself up to him to take her as he wished (which was honestly just however she wanted it, but still).

“Court, baby, you feel so good around me, so warm and tight,” he murmurs, close to her ear, earning a sharp gasp and a tighter grip around his back. “Such a good girl, giving yourself up to me, letting me fuck you hard,” he continues, playing a little, and the way she moans and buries her face against his neck tells him his theory that she might have at least a mild praise kink isn’t entirely wrong.

“Yes, baby, I’m all yours, I’m your girl, I’ll be good,” she repeats back to him a moment later, and he can’t help his own responding groan, reaching up with one hand to rub his thumb across the edge of her lips as if thanking her for what had just come out of them. She responds by opening her mouth and letting his thumb fall inside, her teeth running against it as she sucks it lightly. The look she gives him, wide eyes staring straight into his with filthy longing and complete submission is almost enough to make him cum. Instead, he increases the force behind his thrusts again, both of them crying out in pleasure.

“My perfect, perfect angel, Courtney, god Courtney,” he murmurs almost nonsensically into her ear as he starts to feel her walls flutter around him, alternating between chanting her name and praising her. She comes with a sharp cry only minutes later, merging into a series of moans of his name as he continues thrusting into her, hard, until he feels his own dick twitch as he releases streams of cum inside her. She shudders against him as he cums, head burying against his neck as he holds her tightly against him. She grazes her teeth against his shoulder when he pulls out of her, remaining locked tightly against him for a moment as they both come down from their sexual highs.

“Was that okay, baby?” he asks her, carefully, a few moments later.

“More than. That was...” she sighs, reluctantly shifting so he lets her go, standing on her own legs as she wraps herself around him again. “That was the hottest thing I’ve ever experienced, baby. Thank you.”

“Praise kink?” He asks, after a moment, as they reluctantly shift slightly further away from each other to actually shower.

“Yeah, a little,” she admits lightly, “you know I sometimes just want to give myself up to you and you take me with full control, and the dirty talk and the praise is just... an extension of that. Thank you for indulging my fantasy here and pulling all that out at once.”

“Anything for you, my love,” he replies sweetly, “although I can’t claim total selflessness. You know that’s my fantasy, too.”

“Of course. Was it good for you, too?”

“Yeah, Court. So hot. I could’ve gone rougher again, but we hadn’t talked about it beforehand,” he replies, shrugging.

“If we were at home I would’ve asked for rougher,” she admits, “but here I need to be able to walk normally after we get out of this bubble and go meet up with our friends. Which reminds me... I was loud, wasn’t I?”

“Mmmhm,” he agrees, “I was too. Lets hope between the bathroom tiles and the shower that’s enough insulation.”

They step out of the shower a moment later, Courtney running her hand gently across the top of his back.

“You might want to keep your shirt on for a while, your back is a little scratched up,” she tells him, stepping back to grab a towel to wrap herself in as he turns and twists his head to see his back in the mirror.

“That’s so hot. Thank you,” he replies, “there’s a tiny part of me that wants everyone to see when you mark me.”

“I know,” she laughs, dropping her towel to the floor as she finishes drying herself, “I’m going to put clothes on, if you want a final look for this morning.”

He shamelessly indulges himself, eyes raking over her from the ground up. She winks when he meets her eyes before turning and stepping out into the main room to get dressed. Shayne follows shortly after, and they dress in casual clothes, glancing at the time to see they have a convenient ten minutes before they need to meet everyone to check out and head to the airport.


	32. Chapter 28: Three Separate Times

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any named or identified fans in this fic are not connected to any actual people whatsoever. The names were randomly chosen, and I don't actually know who all the meme accounts are in this fandom because I don't do that type of fandom interaction at all.

“Hey hey you two,” Ian greets them cheerfully when they step out of their room to check out and meet the others in the lobby at the same time he does, and they give cheerful hellos in response.

“Escaped the hangover somehow?” Shayne laughs, and Ian shrugs.

“I guess so, I only have a patchy memory of actually getting back here last night though,” he laughs, “that’s the only vague part though, so I guess it’s a good night.”

“It was nice to go out with everyone and just relax and spend some entirely non-work time together,” Courtney comments, as they step into the elevator, greeting two of their crew who were staying on a higher floor and were already heading down. The others agree with her before they fall into silence for the brief trip down to the lobby. Ian and Shayne wander over to the front desk to hand over the keys to their respective rooms, while Courtney wanders over to slide into a conversation with Olivia and some of the others already waiting.

“Hey girl, how you going this morning?” Olivia turns to her, and Courtney smiles.

“Good, yeah. How are you? You’re tiny, you drank way more than me last night,” she grins.

“I’m good, I’m good, I’m used to it. Sam and I are still wine baes, although I’m pretty sure I pissed Sarah off by calling him and being a sappy bitch after we got home,” Olivia shrugs, and Courtney laughs.

“Cute. Where is Sarah? And Damien, for that matter?” Courtney asks, glancing around to cross-reference the group.

“I am right here,” Damien answers, walking up beside her, Ian and Shayne returning to the group at the same time. “Also, you guys been on your phones this morning since your little post?”

“Nope,” Courtney laughs, “also thank you, I love those pictures.”

“The internet loves the one you posted, too,” Damien grins.

“Are we talking about the fact your ship name is trending on Twitter right now? Because it is,” Sarah jumps into their conversation, appearing from behind them. Shayne and Courtney glance at each other in response, eyes searching for a confirmation of what their mutual feelings on this development should be.

“Well- I think I prefer that to it being questioned,” Shayne admits, after a while.

“We knew what we were doing posting that picture,” Courtney confirms, and he nods, arm sliding around her waist as she moves closer to his side, “I mean, you never know what the internet is going to do, but – my phone is off because I expected notification hell.”

“Mine is not off and it is just going off constantly,” Shayne adds, pulling it out of his pocket and flipping it around in demonstration. “Oh, the parents are texting me, I should actually answer that one.”

“You guys are staying in Washington after we finish, yeah?” Olivia asks, conversationally, as they all start trudging out to the shuttle back to the airport.

“Yeah, I finally get to meet Chris’ wife and kids,” Courtney enthuses in response, her own arm sliding around Shayne’s waist to lead him outside as he types out a text to his parents. “Shayne’s parents are going to be there too, and Brian, doing a bit of an early Topp Christmas thing.”

“That’s cool, are you heading over to Utah at all this year, or nah?” Olivia follows up, Courtney nodding in response.

“We’re spending actual-Christmas there. I finally get to meet the other parent,” Shayne answers her a moment later, stuffing his phone back in his pocket, “but as long as I have Kari on-side I think I’m good.”

“My mother already loves you,” Courtney laughs as they all clamber into the shuttle, “and Kari is bringing a boy, so we are really the least of anyone’s concerns.”

“Oh my god, really?” Ian jumps in, “Kari actually… dating someone?”

“I don’t know the details,” Courtney admits, “last I heard was way back the first time Shayne came to my Dad’s place, she only mentioned him because I made a comment about how we all end up with blondes…”

“He’s an accountant, yeah? So not Kari style,” Shayne adds, Courtney nodding.

“Yeah, accountant, a little into the crystals and wellness shit. And weed, obv, it’s Kari. And, surprisingly, a redhead…” she trails off.

“Geez, this is new, I’ll have to stop joking around about her if she’s actually dating someone,” Ian laughs, and Courtney shrugs.

“As I said, I don’t know the details, I have a feeling they’re not exactly serious and she’s mostly bringing him to screw with us.”

“That sounds like Kari,” Ian laughs.

They get recognised three separate times in the brief thirty minutes between arriving at the airport and actually boarding their flight. It doesn’t help that they’re travelling in a huge group, or that half of them are wearing their own merch.

“Oh my god, Smosh! Can we… have a photo?” Two young girls, clearly sisters, approach them hesitantly in the line for security. Their parents stand behind them, giving apologetic smiles, but Ian quickly accepts, pulling the cast into a rough group to pose with the girls in front of them.

The second time, a group of teenagers doesn’t approach them, but they do call out a loud “you’re my favourite pizza place” as the group of them walk past. It sends a muffled laugh through their group, but they choose not to acknowledge, knowing they need to get to their gate.

They have to sit at the gate waiting for five minutes, and Olivia clocks a slightly older teenage girl watch them walk up and assemble themselves in a small piece of space they find over near the window. She lets the others know under her breath, but for a while, nothing happens, the girl simply glancing constantly between them.

“Wish she’d just come over already instead of staring,” Ian mutters, after a moment, largely to Shayne and Courtney. They nod, Shayne making a point of glancing over and meeting her gaze a moment later. It works, prompting her to awkwardly walk over to them.

“Um, hi smosh,” she starts, awkwardly, “you guys are super cool.”

“Hey, thanks,” Ian answers for them, “what’s your name?”

“Erm, Lara. I- so like, I run one of the big smosh meme twitter and insta accounts, I guess?” she says, “I feel kinda like an asshole though, um… so, Shayne and Courtney, I think I owe you guys an apology?” she continues, uncertain.

“Oh,” Shayne answers, raising an eyebrow, “if it’s something like what happened at the show last night, which I’m sure there’s video of going around, we’d prefer not to know.”

“No, I get that. The thing that was mentioned last night was super stupid, but I kinda owe you an apology because I started the theory in the first place. Not seriously, it was a complete joke, I thought it was just super ridiculous and clearly fake and everyone would just laugh and move on, but some people took hold of it and went with it. I’m sorry I started it, I wish I hadn’t, and I really never intended it to ever get to you guys for real, joke or not,” Lara explains, hesitance in her voice. It causes Shayne and Courtney to both relax, letting up on her a little.

“Hey, it’s okay, Lara. The internet is a weird place, sometimes you do things and they get totally out of your control, we certainly know that,” Courtney reassures her, “but thank you for wanting to apologise.”

“We actually really like all the meme accounts like you, it’s nice to have such cool supporters and you guys come up with some funny stuff about us all,” Ian reinforces, sliding back into the conversation, Shayne nodding in agreement.

“I’m kinda tempted to get rid of my account, I’m kinda known as the person that started that theory now no matter how much I say I always meant it as a stupid joke thing,” Lara admits, rocking back on her heels.

“Are you getting hate for it?” Shayne asks, gently, and she slowly nods.

“But that’s- like, I don’t blame you guys for it at all, it’s fine, I can deal with it. I don’t take it to heart, I just put a lot of effort into this account for a few years and it would suck to lose that, but, you know,” Lara quickly responds, and Shayne tilts his head.

“Would it help if one of us said something? We certainly don’t want fandom drama to happen over all this, you guys all gotta be nice to each other,” he suggests, and Lara shrugs.

“I don’t know, it might. Could I get a photo with all of you, anyway, if that’s alright? I’ve kinda been a huge fan since Smosh was just Ian and Anthony way back, and yeah,” she smiles lightly, Courtney quickly nodding and gathering them all together for a photo.

“Do you show your face on your meme account?” Courtney asks, before Lara goes to step away, and she nods. “my Instagram is already absolutely exploding today for obvious reasons, I could throw a video on my story with you now and tell everyone to let up on you?”

“Are you sure? That would be- yeah, thank you,” Lara stutters through her response, and Courtney nods.

“Come on, sit here,” Courtney directs her to the empty space beside her, “Shayne, you want in or nah?”

“Yeah,” he replies, shifting closer and casually sliding an arm around Courtney’s shoulder as she holds out her phone in front of her to get all three of them in the frame.

“Hey guys, so we just ran into Lara at the airport – what’s your @, again?” Courtney gestures to Lara, who quickly gives the name of her meme account, before Courtney continues, “and she came up to us to apologise for that whole theory thing. You guys need to stop hating on her for it, okay? It’s not her fault the internet ran with what was meant to be a ridiculous joke. But, for real, no hating on anyone over this, okay? Even if they’ve actively believed it – just, you know, let them learn from mistakes and move on.”

She stops the video there, letting Lara watch over it and give her approval before she posts it.

“Thanks so much, guys, I’ve never done the whole meet and greet thing because I love smosh so much I was scared to meet you in case you weren’t as cool as you seem, but you all totally are,” Lara says, standing up, “also, sorry for commenting, but Shayne and Courtney you guys are super cute together.”

“Thanks, Lara,” Shayne laughs, brushing off her apology as she gives an awkward wave goodbye and wanders back over to her family, just as the plane starts to call boarding.

“She was nice. Poor kid got caught up in something much bigger than herself,” Ian comments, as they all start standing up, and the others nod as they stand up to move onto the plane.


	33. Chapter 29: All Of Us

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heading into a few chapters of fun family times, so just a quick reminder disclaimer: some of the family characters in here borrow names/relationships from real-life Shayne and Courtney's real families, others do not. None of the characters in this fic are reflective or representative of any real life people or relationships whether they share names or not. This is fiction.
> 
> And I'm still Australian so Mum is still spelt with a u, not an o.

“Hey, Shayne, your Mum’s calling,” Courtney tells him, glancing over to see his phone ringing against the bed beside her as he fiddles with his laptop over at the small desk in their hotel room in New York a few days later, approaching the end of their tour. The internet had gone into a whirlwind over their relationship for a couple of days after their post and the conspiracy-theory drama, but it hadn’t seemed to flow over into any of their experiences on the tour, thankfully. At least, no one had mentioned it at their first show since it happened the previous night.

“Can you grab it and tell her I’ll be there in a sec? Mid-sentence,” he answers, distractedly, tapping away at his keyboard.

“Hey, Shayne’s in the middle of writing something he’ll just be a second, how are you?” Courtney answers the phone, warmly.

“Oh, Courtney, so lovely to hear from you! I’m great, Robert and I are getting ready to head up to Seattle tomorrow, where are you at the moment?” Dianne responds, enthusiastically, and it makes her smile. Shayne’s parents have been _so_ relaxed and casual about her presence in his life, and she’s loved it.

“We’re in New York, we’ve got another show here tonight before we also head back across to the north-east,” she answers.

“How are all the shows going? I know you had a bit of a silly question about you guys the other day, has it all settled down after that?” she queries, and Courtney sighs.

“Yeah, there hasn’t been anything else since then, um, we shut it down pretty quickly with our own little response online. The shows are going well, though, everyone seems to be enjoying it,” she replies, glancing over as Shayne shifts away from the desk and sits on the bed beside her.

“We did see your post, actually, Chris sent it to us on our request – we just wanted to make sure everything was going okay. We know there’s a lot of potential pressure on you both from a publicity point of view, and we make a point of never adding to that – but you look very happy together, and it’s lovely to see,” Dianne says, softly, and it makes Courtney blush and smile.

“Thank you. We are happy. Shayne’s here, now, I can hand over to him,” she answers.

“Put it on speaker instead, I just wanted a chat, may as well speak to both of you,” she suggests, Courtney agreeing as she pulls the phone away from her ear, throwing it on speakerphone and setting it down on the bed between them, gesturing to Shayne to speak.

“Hi, Mum, how’s it going?” he starts.

“Hi, darling, I was telling Courtney we’re just getting ready to head up to Seattle soon. Really looking forward to all of us being together! Courtney said all your shows are going well?” she asks, and Shayne launches into a reply. They talk for a good fifteen minutes before Courtney glances at the time on her own phone, silently indicating to Shayne that they need to go and get ready to meet up with the others before their show soon.

“It’s great to talk to you, Mum, we actually have to go get ready for the show tonight soon,” Shayne tells her, carefully, at the next pause in their conversation.

“Oh, of course, I hope you have a great show! It was nice to talk to both of you, looking forward to seeing you in person later in the week!” she replies, enthusiastically.

“We’re looking forward to seeing everyone, too,” Courtney replies.

“Yeah, we are. Bye, Mum,” Shayne says his goodbye.

“Bye Shayne, Courtney, love both of you,” she replies, hanging up before either of them have a chance to reply, Courtney’s eyes going wide as she looks at the phone.

“She just said that, yeah?” she asks, after a moment, voice hesitant.

“She did,” Shayne answers, shifting around to sit beside Courtney, arm sliding around her and holding her close, “and yes, it’s kind of a significant thing that my Mum just made a point of extending her goodbye-love to you, and you’re allowed to feel something about it. I kinda do. Lots of good things.”

“Same,” Courtney admits, letting her head fall against his shoulder, “I know your family have been really welcoming and said I’m part of the family since the start, but I’m really feeling it more and more, and I really like it. I like being part of your family, because it’s another thing that just says… yes, we’re in this together for life, we’re sharing our lives.”

“At the start, I think it was… not that they didn’t absolutely agree with me, but they accepted you were becoming part of my life because I said you were. Now they actively see that we’ve become so entwined in life that of course you’re part of my life, and you will be forever. And you’re part of their lives, too, because of that,” Shayne explains, “also, Chris asked the other day if it’s cool if his kids refer to you as Aunty Courtney, so there’s that.”

“What did you say?” Courtney asks, out of interest, “because for the record I kind of like that.”

“I said I’d get back to him and then I forgot to get back to him, I was going to ask you, but then everything happened,” Shayne admits, laughing, “I’ll let him know you’re cool with that.”

“Yeah. All the various Miller-and-related kids have called you Uncle Shayne from the start, it’s only fair,” she shrugs it off, and he grins.

“Who started that?”

“Kari, I think. She got scared she’d permanently screwed with my relationship with her when you stood up for me to her. She explained it a couple months ago when I caught up with her, you kind of made her step back and realise how much you care about me and how important you are to me, and she went hard on the pro-Shayne thing for a while to make sure I knew she’d learnt from that,” Courtney explains, Shayne nodding, confirming his own improved relationship with Kari as they move around the room idly chatting, preparing to head out to their show for the evening.

————————————————

Their final show in Seattle is bittersweet. The audience is extra-loud, extra-positive, every single question they get in the Q&A leads them into a chaotic mess of trying to one-up each other with jokes and the crowd eats it up.

“No pressure, but this is the _final question_ of our entire tour – who’s up for it?” Sarah calls, riling the audience up a little as she glances around and finds the most enthusiastic person she can. “Okay, what’s your name, and what’s your question?”

“Hey guys, I’m Samantha,” the girl answers, “what is each of your favourite Smosh things you’ve ever done?”

“Oooh, that is a good one to end on,” Ian replies, taking the first answer up the end of the line, “Mine has either got to be one of the OGs, Pokemon or something like that… but Summer Games is always a fun time, too, so that has to rate pretty highly. Damien?” he passes the question on, going down the line. Damien throws out a heap of suggestions, making a joke of deciding and then re-deciding until he’s listed about eight different things. Olivia, for her part, throws out a characteristically bizarre reference to a random pit video from a few years back, before throwing to Courtney, next.

“I have a lot of favourites for different reasons, Day Jobs was short-lived but was super fun to film,” she starts, Olivia quickly agreeing with her and launching into a conversation about their disastrous doughnut shop endeavour, “also, I know it’s the easy one, but try not to laugh is super fun to film. But let’s be real, we all know my actual favourite,” she grins to the audience before pointedly glancing over at Shayne. They’d decided for the final show there wasn’t too much harm in them sitting beside each other. They were all spaced out a bit, anyway, it’s not like they were actively touching.

“What you looking at me for?” he jokes, faking stupid.

“It’s your turn,” she rolls her eyes for show, leaning over and lightly punching him in the arm. It doesn’t escape her that he actively leans into her touch, as jokingly aggressive as it is.

“Okay, yeah, there’s a certain animated character drawing Pit video that I particularly like,” Shayne answers, grinning, “other than that- it’s only pretty new, but our Family Style series where a heap of us play something on Games is a new favourite, actually. And you know, you gotta throw it to the OG pizza place joke in one of our early try not to laughs.”

“Can I get a say too?” Sarah pipes up, moving back up onto the stage, her question-asking duties now finished, “I’m a big fan of spelling bee-kini wax, you know.”

“Because it’s totally unfair that you put all of us in pain and just stand there laughing at us!” Ian cries out, in response.

“Oh, you know, no one has given me a good reason to do it, also, you don’t exactly claim to hate it…” she replies, before leading their conversation into the end of the show.

“We’re done!” Ian calls, somewhere between exhausted and jubilant when their mics are off and they all pile into the large backstage area at this venue. They wait for all their crew to join them before he gives some kind of half-assed President-appropriate speech, thanking them all for making the show a success. The idea of a post-tour wrap-party of sorts had been floated at one point, but by this point they were all just tired, and it was redefined to become part of their usual New Years’-ish party in a few weeks’ time.

“You two are off to meet up with the family tonight, right?” Damien asks, standing beside Shayne and Courtney as they all hang out backstage for a little while longer, before everyone starts to head off – mostly back to the hotel.

“Yeah, they’re actually meeting us here in a few – waiting for the crowd to clear a little so it doesn’t scare the kids, but Chris said they don’t come into the city after dark very often so we’re giving them a fun night at a grown up restaurant in the city. They live a little way out in the suburbs,” he explains, nodding in acknowledgement as Olivia and Sarah wander over to join their conversation.

“How old are these kids?” Sarah asks.

“Nathan is 6, Rosie just turned… 4, I think?” Shayne answers, glancing to Courtney for confirmation.

“Yes, 4 – how do I know this better than you? I haven’t even met these kids yet,” she laughs.

“I’m bad at ages, okay!” he defends himself, playing up his exasperation.


	34. Chapter 30: Pretty Cool Hair

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This fic is in an AU where 2020 is not quite so... 2020. However, there are some vague allusions to the Australian fires of last summer, so that happened. Keeping it vague, though.
> 
> Enjoy some family fluff!

Courtney takes Shayne’s hand, gripping it tightly when they separate from the rest of the group backstage, bidding everyone goodbye, not likely to see them again until they all fully return to LA in a couple of weeks. She feels him start rubbing the back of her hand with his thumb in calming circles as they walk around the venue to where they’d agreed to meet Shayne’s parents, Chris, and his family – Brian was flying in two days later after his company closed for Christmas break.

“You’ll be fine, I’ll be with you the whole time,” he whispers, and she nods, taking a deep breath to try and clear the wash of anxiety settling in her chest. It helps, feeling him beside her, and it helps even more when they turn the corner and Nathan immediately starts running for them.

“Uncle Shayne!” he calls, loudly, and Shayne lets go of Courtney’s hand to lean down and pick him up before he crashes into his legs.

“Hey, buddy!” he replies, just as enthusiastically, as Dianne pulls Courtney into a hug the moment they reach the rest of the group. Thankfully, the crowd from their show seems to have cleared, because otherwise Nathan’s cheer might have caused some trouble.

“So nice to see you, Courtney!” Dianne greets her enthusiastically, as she pulls back, turning to watch Nathan babbling away to Shayne, not letting him speak to anyone else. Courtney sees Shayne quickly glance over at her, apologising for breaking his promise of less than a minute earlier, but she smiles reassuringly and turns to greet his Dad and Chris, too.

“Hey, it’s good to see you again Courtney, this is my wife Julie,” Chris introduces the woman standing beside him, holding a rather timid-looking four-year-old, “and Rosie, of course.”

“Hi, Julie, it’s nice to finally meet you – and you too, Rosie,” she smiles at both of them before shifting slightly to the side, Julie also twisting her body so Rosie is facing Courtney.

“She was excited to meet you until we had to pull her away from an episode of Bluey,” Julie explains, “I don’t know how she even found it, it’s some Australian kids show but she _loves_ it.”

“It’s gotta be something,” Courtney laughs, giving up on getting the young girl’s attention for the meantime as she curls grumpily against her mother.

“Hey, Nathan, how about you say hi to Aunty Courtney too?” she hears Shayne say, and she shifts slightly to see a much more exuberant young boy staring up at her from in front of Shayne.

“Hi,” he says, bluntly, “your hair looks cool.”

“Oh, thank you Nathan, you’ve got pretty cool hair too,” she replies, the others laughing. She had dip-dyed the ends of her hair pink for the tour, and it wasn’t a professional job so it was close to almost fully faded out, but she figures pink hair is notable in any regard if you haven’t seen it before.

“Mum let me get mine cut however I wanted last week so I told them to make me look cool,” he answers, matter-of-factly, grinning at her compliment.

“Hey, guys, we’ve got a restaurant booking to make – let’s go get some food, hey?” Rob interrupts the couple of separate conversations going on a minute later, and Nathan lets out a decided cheer.

“Dad, can I walk with Uncle Shayne and Aunty Courtney instead?” he requests, when his Dad reaches out to take his hand.

“Sure, but you gotta ask them first,” he glances up at them with an almost apologetic smile.

“Mum and Dad say I gotta hold an adult’s hand when we’re walking in the city, can I hold your hands?” Nathan addresses them, turning slightly shy as he does so.

“Of course,” Courtney answers, reaching out her hand to let him grip it, Shayne doing the same on his other side as they start walking down the street to the restaurant, conveniently only a few minutes’ walk from the venue they’d performed at. Nathan chatters away to them happily about something that had happened at school the other day – he had started first grade in September and was still loving it, apparently – and they engage enthusiastically with him, letting the other four adults and Rosie walk ahead of them. Courtney tries not to get too in her head about how it’s all going, but she can’t help but meet Shayne’s eyes and return his soft smile when she feels his gaze on her.

“How did the final show go?” Dianne asks them when they’ve sat down in the restaurant. Nathan had proposed sitting between Shayne and Courtney, but Shayne had offered the alternative of sitting between him and Chris or Courtney and Julie instead. Nathan had agreed to the former, and Shayne’s hand had reached for and taken Courtney’s under the table the second they sat down beside each other.

“It was really good, actually, lots of energy,” Shayne answers, “kind of bittersweet, though.”

“Because it’s the end of the tour?” Chris joins the conversation.

“Yeah,” Courtney supplies, “it’s been totally different to what we usually do, a lot more direct of a response and all. Exhausting, though.”

“Both sad and glad it’s over,” Shayne agrees, nodding.

“Where do you work, Aunt Courtney?” Nathan jumps into their conversation, having evidently been listening, grasping somewhere along the way that they were talking about work.

“I work with Shayne,” she answers, carefully, glancing up to him for help answering the question. It’s hard enough to explain their job to adults, let alone a six-year-old whose internet exposure she has no idea of.

“Shayne and Courtney both work on the internet show I told you about, making funny videos for people, remember?” Chris steps in, Nathan nodding.

“Oh, that’s cool, I like funny videos,” he responds, in typical kid-fashion, before running off on a tangent with Dianne and Rob.

“At least Brian’s got an easy job to describe to kids,” Shayne jokes to Chris, a moment later, and both him and Julie laugh.

“Between metallurgy and internet comedy acting you guys all really went for some out-of-the-box stuff, didn’t you?” Julie smiles, Chris nodding in response.

“Yeah, but Shayne and Courtney are going to be the coolest people ever to them when they’re old enough to watch that section of Youtube,” Chris defends.

“Assuming Smosh will still be cool when they are old enough,” Courtney tilts her head in faked contemplation.

“You guys meet fans and stuff on the tour, right? What kind of age range do you get there?” Julie asks, turning her attention to Courtney mostly as Shayne slides into Nathan’s conversation with his parents and Chris tries to talk to Rosie.

“It varies quite a bit. There’s the occasional kind of nine or ten year old, but it’s usually more that thirteen to eighteen range. Sometimes a bit older if it’s someone who’s been watching since it all started back in 2005,” she explains, “some of the original fans are as old as some of the current cast, which is a little different, but it makes sense.”

“Oh, that would be strange. Chris watches some of your stuff, he occasionally throws one at me, but we think it’ll be a couple more years before we can let Nathan see some of the more kid-friendly stuff,” Julie answers, with half a laugh, and Courtney nods.

“Yeah, that makes sense, I get it. I have quite a few nieces and nephews myself and none of them know a thing about the internet yet, I don’t get to be the cool aunt yet anywhere.”

“Chris mentioned you have a few siblings?” Julie pushes, and Courtney nods.

“Yeah, six – well, a couple direct, but six including step-siblings. Mormons,” she explains, shrugging, “between three of them who’ve had kids so far, there’s already two nieces and four nephews. Shayne’s family seems much… calmer.”

“See I’m the exact opposite, I’m an only child so I am not used to the sibling thing at all, but you’re right, the Topps are nice and relaxed. Good to have another woman in the picture though, it’s just been me and Dianne for a long time,” Julie grins, and Courtney laughs lightly.

“I guess it would be like that. How long have you and Chris been together?”

“Seven years married, ten together. Chris tells me you and Shayne are 7 months, plus a vague few years?” she teases lightly, and Courtney shrugs.

“Something like that. It took us a while – but hey, we’re here now.”

“That’s all that matters,” Julie replies, before switching topics, “sorry about Rosie, by the way. She was as equally excited to meet you as Nathan, but she’s a lot less outgoing than he is and she’s been moody the last few months since he went off to school.”

“Aw, missing her big brother?” Courtney replies, Julie nodding in confirmation.

“I quit a kind of shi- uh, less-than-ideal, job with a consulting firm when I had her and I haven’t gone back since, so she still has me to hang out with, but apparently I’m not as fun.”

“Aw, that’s a shame. Hopefully she’ll get used to it soon?”

“Talking about Rosie?” Shayne asks, shifting himself back into their conversation, and Courtney nods. “She’s always been a quiet one, compared to Nathan, anyway. Chris mentioned she’s getting a bit more chatty in general, though?”

“Yeah, to an extent,” Julie explains, “she’s picking up a lot of words and talking really well when she chooses to, it’s just only when she chooses to. But that’s okay. Nathan’s our little bundle of chaos, as you might have realised. He missed Uncle Shayne.”

“I figured. It’s a shame it’s not easier for us to catch up more often,” Shayne replies, before their conversation is interrupted by the arrival of the server taking their orders.

“Mama, can I sit there?” Rosie asks, the second the server leaves, finally turning her attention away from clinging to her parents, gesturing at her mother’s lap.

“Sure,” Julie answers, lifting the child up carefully and setting her on her lap. Rosie immediately twists around to face Courtney and Shayne to Julie’s side.

“Hi Aunty Courtney, sorry I was grumpy, I miss Bluey,” Rosie explains, looking mildly perplexed as she does so.

“Hi Rosie, that’s okay. Is Bluey your favourite show?” Courtney asks, and she nods, launching into an excited albeit slightly messy toddler-style explanation of the show that somehow merges into a conversation about her favourite Disney princesses, that Courtney is more than happy to indulge her in until the kids’ food arrives, and Rosie reluctantly shifts back to her own seat as Julie helps her cut up her food.

The adults all fall into light conversation as the kids eat and when their own meals arrive a little while later. They talk about Rob and Dianne’s new place in Thousand Oaks, and a little bit about the fact Courtney grew up not far away from where they now live. Chris talks about how the new renovations at his workshop have ended up – there had ended up being more drama than he’d hoped for setting everything up, but he had finally got it worked out.

“Can I sit with Aunty Courtney?” Rosie mumbles to her mother, sleepily, after they’ve all finished. Nathan is busy talking to his grandparents, the other four chatting amicably amid looking in amusement as he somehow still bursts with energy, approaching his usual bedtime.

“You can sit on my lap again and talk to Aunty Courtney, sure,” Julie replies, lifting her off her own chair and over onto her lap again.

“No, I wanna sit with her,” Rosie complains, frowning and reaching out for Courtney.

“Oh-“ Julie starts, glancing up at Courtney questioningly.

“I don’t mind,” Courtney mouths silently over Rosie’s head, and Julie nods.

“-okay then, Rosie-“ she starts, cut off when Rosie takes it upon herself to clamber off her Mother’s lap and over to Courtney. Courtney has to reach down and help pull her onto her lap, and Shayne quickly moves his hand away from where it had fallen to rest on Courtney’s knee before it is crushed by a sleepy, strangely enthusiastic toddler.

“Hi Rosie, how are you going?” Courtney asks her, gently, when she squirms around on her lap for a moment before settling with her legs hanging off Courtney’s and her side leaning against Courtney’s chest, facing towards Shayne.

“Good,” she mumbles, balled fist rubbing at her eyes for a moment. “Are you and Uncle Shayne like- love like Mummy and Daddy?”

“Yeah, we are,” Courtney answers her, feeling her nod tiredly in response. They have another conversation about favourite colours, Shayne included, before Rosie’s mumbling becomes increasingly incoherent. She reaches over to grab Courtney’s arm and pull it around herself, before drifting off to sleep. Courtney glances over to Julie, silently asking if it’s okay, and Julie nods.

“It’s way past her bedtime, she was bound to fall asleep on someone, she’s evidently just chosen you this time,” she smiles, “well done, she doesn’t usually warm up to new people well.”

“I have some experience with young ones,” Courtney admits, letting out half a laugh, “two of my step-siblings that have kids live in Southern California too, I have pretty frequent catch ups with all of them at my Dad’s place. Shayne has been to a few, too.”

“He’s mentioned those, actually, it sounds fun. It really is a shame we’ve ended up all over the place, it’d be great if the kids got to see family more,” Chris jumps into the conversation, “but I guess we all have very valid reasons for being all over the place.”

“We’re trying to work out a way to get them down to LA to Rob and Dianne’s new place, and to see you two, of course. Rosie’s always been _terrified_ of flying, but we figure it’s probably getting long enough that we can try again. And she’s old enough that the promise of a certain theme park might help get her there,” Julie grins, and Shayne nods.

“Yeah, with her babbling to Court about princesses earlier that sounds like something she’d be up for,” Shayne grins, “it’d be cool to spend some time with them down in LA.”

“Yes, Shayne, you guys can go to Di- er, that place- with them,” Chris jokes, and Shayne laughs.

“Sorry, still love it, although these days we mostly go there for work things,” he answers, shrugging.

“We haven’t for a while, though. Last time we made the mistake of going in good weather in June and everyone started running off different directions so we all got lost,” Courtney grins.

“Maybe this is something that could happen sooner rather than later, like January or February, weather is still pretty good down your way then isn’t it?” Julie pushes, and Shayne nods.

“Yeah, definitely. Give us a couple weeks heads up and we can get some time off, too,” Shayne pushes, and Chris nods.

“Sure, we’ll have a look at planning something. Either of you got any particular commitments we need to avoid?” Chris asks.

“I don’t think-“

“Late February early March isn’t a good time,” Courtney interrupts him, shaking her head, “and Shayne’s evidently forgotten that, but. Otherwise, we’re good.”

“Ooh, right, yes. We have a work thing for a couple weeks then that will make us rather…” he trails off, “oh, whatever. A few of us are heading over to Australia for a couple weeks to do a couple of conventions, but that isn’t public yet.”

“Ooh, yeah, got it,” Julie answers, “that should be fun, though. It sucks what’s happening over there at the moment with all these fires.”

They talk for another twenty minutes before Nathan starts to get tired, too, and they call time on their evening. Courtney, Shayne and Julie all try to convince Rosie to wake up properly, and although she wakes, she is insistent she wants to stay with Courtney.

“Well, I can take you to your Mum’s car, but then you’ll have to let go, okay?” Courtney bargains with her, when they all give up, and Rosie nods.

“Ok. Mum said you’re coming to our house tomorrow?” Rosie mumbles.

“Yeah, we are, and I’ll definitely spend more time with you then, okay?” Courtney reassures her. Rosie simply nods against her, seemingly drifting off again as Courtney finds a way to stand up without letting go of her.

“You got a fan there, Courtney,” Dianne comments, walking beside Shayne, her and Julie, as they move back towards where the others had parked near the venue.

“Apparently I do,” she grins. It takes a moment to extricate Rosie from her shoulder when they do reach Chris and Julie’s car, but when they do, she easily lets Julie strap her into her car seat. They say their goodbyes to the family, Shayne’s parents still standing outside with Shayne and Courtney when they drive off.

“Our car’s just up the street, are you guys staying nearby?” Rob asks, and Shayne shrugs.

“Not really, but we’ll just grab a taxi.”

“Nah, come on, we’ll give you a lift,” Dianne pushes, and Shayne goes to resist for a moment, before shrugging.

“Okay, thanks. We’ve just got tonight at this place since it’s still part of the work trip, we’re renting a car tomorrow and shifting to somewhere a bit closer to Chris’ place,” he explains, taking Courtney’s hand as they follow his parents into their car. It’s a short drive, and it’s largely in silence until they say their goodbyes and thank them at their hotel.

“That was nice,” Courtney comments, quietly, letting herself lean against Shayne’s side as they take the elevator up.

“Yeah, it was. I always forget how much I love those kids, I hope they do come down to LA soon,” Shayne answers, and Courtney nods.

“You keen to show them around Disney, hey?” she grins.

“Definitely – with you, of course. We can have a perfect little extended family Disney day, y’know?” he enthuses, and she laughs lightly as they step out of the elevator.

“Of course. They’re such cuties, I hope we do get to see more of them soon.”


	35. Chapter 31: In Tune

There’s no real reason for their visit to Chris and Julie’s place the following day, after they check out of their Smosh-paid hotel and shift further into suburbia so they’re nearer to the family. But still, they drive out to the address they’ve been given after lunch – “I haven’t been here for a good two years,” Shayne comments, when they pull up – and Chris answers the door, Nathan racing behind him to greet them. They settle into a relaxed afternoon, largely letting the two kids take their attention, as do Dianne and Rob.

Courtney ends up sitting down on the living room floor with Julie, Dianne, and the kids in the late afternoon, chatting with the adults as the kids play around them. Shayne sits with them for a while, before quietly excusing himself to go and sit at the table in the adjoined dining room with Chris and their Dad.

“Hey buddy,” Chris greets him, and he nods in response, not saying much for a while as he lets them talk aimlessly about sport, his gaze staying fixed on the girls and the kids down on the floor.

“Can they hear us from here?” Shayne asks, voice low, a few minutes later during a pause in their conversation.

“Not if you stay that quiet, what’s on your mind?” Chris prompts him, and he sighs, letting his eyes fall back to Courtney for a moment before they flick back to his conversational partners.

“When is too early to think about marriage? I mean, I know now is, I guess, but. We’ve talked about it. And I just… can’t imagine my life without her,” he admits, quietly, eyes sliding down as he crosses his arms in front of himself on the table.

“There really isn’t an answer to that, Shayne. And now might not even be too early,” his Dad answers, and he nods, although he doesn’t speak.

“I think you gotta remember, dude, it’s not like you _met_ her 7 months ago. You met her, what, almost five years ago? You didn’t start from zero,” Chris says, and he nods again.

“Do you think you’re still in an early-stage honeymoon period, or have you settled into this?” his Dad turns a question back on him.

“Settled, definitely. Any semblance of still being in some kind of abstract honeymoon period disappeared when we went public, but probably we settled into the reality of it quite a while before that. But also, because there is the whole public thing, I’m kind of like… I don’t know. I think I gotta wait at least until a year,” he admits.

“Yeah, you do gotta have an eye for the optics, as much as I know you don’t like that,” Chris replies, “but, look – if you know, you know, Shayne. You two are clearly in this for the long haul, it’s really up to you when you decide to formalise that, because we all know it’s when, not if.”

“We’ve agreed it’s going to happen sometime. We haven’t talked about when, though, but… It’s starting to feel like a closer and closer step,” Shayne shrugs, “we only went public a couple months ago and moved in together _formally_ a bit over three months ago, although truthfully we barely lived apart after we got together, and now we’ve kind of settled into the publicity side of it enough to be a little more open and less reserved in work things and whatever, so there’s not really… any way that we aren’t just all in on this left. I don’t know. I’m just… so sure of everything with her. I love her so damn much.”

“Maybe you need to talk to her about it, Shayne?” his Dad suggests, “I don’t exactly follow your public side of things all the time, but even with the stuff that happened the other week, and then seeing you together these last couple days and the last few months – you’re both clearly comfortable in this, it’s clear she loves you just as much.”

“We’re so in tune that every big conversation we’ve had, I’ve kind of already known what she’s going to say before it starts. Even when something at work pushed us to suddenly talk about going public for the first time – it took all of ten minutes of discussion to just reinforce that we were both on the same page and we wanted to go for it. And I think… it’s the same here, in a way. I know what she’ll say, and it’s the same thing I think, but I just don’t know how to start that conversation,” he sighs, “sorry for this, I just… felt like I needed to talk to someone other than Damien about it, for once, given he’s not exactly experienced in the serious relationships department.”

“Hey, it’s all good, Shayne,” Chris reinforces, his Dad nodding in agreement, “we’re all super happy for you. And it’s good to have her be part of our family now.”

“Mum dropped the ‘love you both’ thing on us for the first time a couple days ago on a phone call. Felt kinda nice. She’s part of my life forever, I know that for certain, it’s… really cool to have you guys recognise that,” Shayne admits.

“Course, she’s quickly becoming one of our kids too in the same way Julie is,” his Dad responds, nodding, and Shayne just smiles, letting the conversation come to a close as he glances back down to the living room where they’re still with the kids. Courtney glances up at him a moment later, flashing him a warm smile before Rosie starts climbing all over her, pulling her attention away.

————————————————

It’s late when they get back to their hotel. They had only planned to stay for a few hours, but Julie had invited them all to stay for dinner once it got to the kids’ dinnertime with all of them still there, and it’s not like they had anywhere else to go. Plus, Shayne and Courtney had both brought out some of their sillier, more kid-appropriate improv voices, and it had made the kids’ demand for bedtime stories from them rather insistent. So, they stayed until the kids were asleep, and then they stayed a little longer, all the adults talking without two under-7s pestering them constantly.

“Those kids are adorable but god they’re tiring,” Courtney comments, pulling on a pair of leggings and one of Shayne’s shirts after they walk into their room and immediately start getting ready for bed. It’s not exactly usual for them to sleep in anything more than underwear, but it was December in Seattle, and even with their joint body heat it was kind of cold.

“That, and we have just finished this whole tour deal,” Shayne laughs, Courtney agreeing as she steps into the bathroom to finish her evening routine.

“Seems like you had a nice deep chat with Chris and your Dad there earlier,” Courtney comments, as they lie close beside each other in bed a few minutes later.

“Yeah, I did,” Shayne replies, looking straight up at the ceiling, “you going to ask what it was about?”

“Nope. You’ll tell me if you want to,” she replies, and he glances over at her to see her soft, understanding gaze.

“I want to, but I’m scared,” he admits, “and I know I have no reason to be, but I just… am.”

“You’re allowed to be scared,” she answers, softly, turning to her side to face him and curling tightly around his body. “You don’t need to be, but it’s okay if you are.”

“I was asking them about… How I know when it’s no longer too early to think about asking you to marry me,” he admits, after a moment, turning onto his side to face her too when she motions for him to do so.

“I’ve been thinking about it, too,” she answers him, softly, “I know so far we’ve said yeah, it’ll happen sometime in an undetermined future. That future is feeling less and less undetermined, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it really is,” he replies, letting the tension fall out of his shoulders as he reaches up to cup her cheek. “I don’t think I’d be ready to ask you tomorrow – but I don’t think it’s far off at all.”

“I don’t want it to be far off anymore, although maybe we aren’t quite there just yet,” Courtney agrees, and Shayne nods.

“I’m… worried, I guess. We… do have to consider what it’s going to look like publicly, for one, but I just… am stuck in this thought pattern that it’s too early for no other reason than I think I should think it is,” he admits.

“What did Chris and your Dad say?” she asks, “If you don’t mind me asking.”

“That it’s not like we started from zero, that we both seem very settled and comfortable in this – which I agreed with, and that I need to talk to you about it,” he lists, briefly.

“We definitely didn’t start from nothing, that’s true,” she replies, “and, yeah, I’m happy to talk about it. Taking all of your external concerns about what _should_ happen into account – when do you feel is no longer too early?”

“I don’t feel like it should happen before a year,” he admits, “but that’s almost 5 months away, and I don’t really have a reason for thinking a year, other than the optics of it, as Chris put it. Do you… have any particular thoughts about it?”

“I think we do have to keep a mind for what it’s going to look like, to a degree, but not to the extent it’s an actual factor in when it happens,” Courtney responds, gently, “but I get why you say a year. It’s… neat, and it seems right – but I think I’ll be ready for you to ask before then.”

“I think I’ll be ready to ask before then. I… I want it to be a surprise, or at least, I want the exact timing and how it happens to be a surprise. But I want to know that we’re both in agreement that it’s the right step to take before I ask,” he explains, “and I know, bullshit gender roles whatever, but I _want_ to ask you, so like…”

“I know what you mean, don’t worry. And yeah, I kinda want to be surprised with it. I don’t think we can put a time on it – but I agree, that it’s not really that far away anymore, and as long as we both accept that’s true, I don’t think there can be a problem with it being too early,” she tells him, cautiously, “I kind of feel like… there’s going to be a point where we both just know it’s right. I don’t think we can know what that point will be until it happens.”

“Yeah, I think you’re right. Thank you for indulging my need to talk about it. You really are everything to me, love,” he lets his voice soften. “I know I’m going to spend the rest of my life with you, no matter when we start the process of formalising that.”

“I think, deep down, I’ve known I wanted to spend my life with you since well before we even got together. I love you, Shayne, so much,” she whispers, before leaning forward to press a soft kiss to his lips.


	36. Chapter 32: Indulging

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A reminder that the characters in here even if they share names with real people are not representative of those people, and if they're assholes in this fic it's just plot driving reasons.

They dress up a tiny bit more for their early-Christmas gathering the next day, Shayne going for one of his brightly coloured button ups.

“Your style really does match your screaming for attention habit sometimes,” Courtney pokes fun at him, as she peers into the hotel mirror to do her makeup.

“Hey,” he complains, “I’d jab you for that if you weren’t mid-eyeliner.”

“Don’t you dare mess up eyeliner application,” she laughs.

“Wouldn’t dream of it. You almost ready to go?”

“Yeah. Your parents are already going to be there, right?” Courtney confirms, finishing up the final touches of her look before she steps back out into the hotel room.

“Mhm, they were going over early. Brian will be a bit later, he only finished for Christmas break last night and is flying over from New York this morning,” Shayne explains, Courtney nodding in response.

“I get that vibe that there’s a little tension between him and the rest of the family?” she inquires, carefully, and Shayne nods.

“None of us would care in the slightest that he’s so career-focussed, but sometimes he can be a dick about it,” he admits, “none of us have actually seen him since Mum and Dad went over there to visit him 18 months ago, and it’s been even longer for the rest of us. But – he’s always been a high achiever, that’s what he does, so we just live with it as long as he lets us live with our own life paths – and he’s not always so great at that. He doesn’t exactly think what we do is a real job.”

Courtney nods in understanding as they step out of their room and head to their rental car, letting the conversation fall to an end. Rob answers the door when they knock, this time, gesturing them to come inside.

“Chris and the kids have gone down the road to the grocery store for totally unnecessary ice cream just to get them out of our hair for a while,” he explains as they wander through to the main area of the house, greeting Julie and Dianne in the kitchen.

“Anything I can help with?” Courtney offers.

“Ah, not really, we’re just finishing a couple things, we’ll be done in a moment,” Julie brushes her off, and she’s right, all of them moving to sit at the dining room table only a few minutes later.

“Oh my god watermelons!” Nathan enthuses, pointing at Shayne’s shirt the second they enter the house, and it starts him, Shayne and Chris onto an extended food conversation. Courtney, for her part, stays talking with Shayne’s parents and Julie instead.

“Who that?” Rosie breaks into their conversation when the doorbell rings a while later, twisting around from where she has been quietly leaning against the coffee table with some crayons and paper.

“That’s your Uncle Brian, remember I said he was coming?” Julie calls out to her, and Rosie just shrugs, turning back to her drawing. Chris goes to answer the door, and they all stand up from their spots and move further into the living room.

True to form, Nathan calls out a chaotic greeting to his uncle as soon as he steps into the room, racing towards him.

“Hello Nathan,” Brian replies, hand landing on top of his head and ruffling his hair in an affectionate greeting that also keeps him at arms’ length.

“Hey Brian,” Rob steps into their conversation, and Dianne walks over to pull him into a brief hug as he says hello to his parents. Julie, for her part, hangs back with Shayne and Courtney, and it makes Courtney nervous.

“Hey, Shayne, still dressing and dating like you’re 21?” Brian jokes towards him in greeting, as he turns towards the three of them, and Courtney feels a wash of anxiety settle into the pit of her stomach. Shayne’s arm slides around her waist protectively, and she lets him pull her closer against his side.

“I’ll take the style comment, but dude, not cool,” Shayne tells him, forcefully, and Brian just raises an eyebrow as Shayne continues, “Courtney, this is Brian – Brian, Courtney, my girlfriend.”

“Hey Brian, it’s nice to meet you,” Courtney smiles at him, pushing through the awkwardness trying to settle over them.

“Yeah, you guys work together, right?” he pushes, and Shayne nods before he continues, “or, well, whatever that fake non-job you do is. Let me guess, drunk hookup at a work party and you had to force it to be something else?”

“Brian, I gotta show you Chris’ new car,” Rob steps in instantly, grabbing his son’s upper arm and pulling him almost forcefully towards the garage. Shayne’s hold around Courtney tightens, and she can feel her own face fall, as much as she tries to hide it.

“For f-“ Shayne cuts himself off, before he swears, glancing towards the kids now both sitting down near the coffee table, looking up at the adults with wide eyes. “-for christ’s sake.”

“I’m so sorry, Courtney, Shayne, that was absolutely out of line of him,” Chris steps in, immediately, and his expression is one of concentrated anger.

————————————————

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Rob starts, the second he closes the garage door behind himself, Brian standing in front of him with hands stuffed roughly in his pockets.

“We’re not indulging Shayne’s immature crap, are we? I mean, he’s obviously sponging off you and Mum, I’m guessing he only finished that damn degree so he could get more money out of you, and now he’s gone and hooked up with his coworker and somehow got her an invite to family Christmas?” Brian raises an eyebrow.

“Shayne doesn’t take a cent from your mother and I, Brian. We offered him the same thing we gave you when you graduated, but he rejected it because he doesn’t need it. You’re not the only one of our kids who has been successful, Shayne has two regular and long-term jobs in an industry that is extremely difficult to break into. Just because Shayne and Chris don’t talk about their success doesn’t mean it isn’t there. And as for Courtney – she is a lovely woman, and you owe both her and Shayne a significant apology for minimising their relationship like that. Shayne is going to marry her one day, they’re in this for the long haul, and she is already very much part of our family,” Rob defends them, Brian merely sighing as he does.

————————————————

“Was Uncle Brian mean to Uncle Shayne and Aunty Courtney?” Nathan asks, breaking above the hushed conversations they have fallen into across the living room, Chris sitting down on the floor with his children as Shayne, Courtney, Dianne and Julie talk quietly in the dining room.

“Um… yeah, Nath, he… said some not nice things,” Chris admits, glancing over to Julie for help.

“Why?” Rosie jumps into the conversation, face scrunched in confusion, “Aunty Courtney and Uncle Shayne are really nice.”

“Yeah, they are, honey, but sometimes adults aren’t always friends when they first meet. But that’s okay, Uncle Brian is going to say sorry and it won’t happen again,” Julie explains as she wanders over to sit on the couch near them.

“I’m… really sorry about him, again,” Dianne murmurs, over near Shayne and Courtney, her own face red with a mixture of anger and embarrassment, “especially after… the other week.”

“It’s… not ideal,” Shayne admits, “and it hurts a tiny bit more all over again coming from a family member, but…”

“It’s not your fault, Dianne,” Courtney reassures her, while her hand rubs circles across Shayne’s back, comforting him. She’s shocked and uncomfortable, to say the least, but she knows Shayne is the one who’s been hit hard.

“Uncle Shayne and Aunty Courtney!” Nathan calls, rushing over towards them, “I want to hug both of you at once but my arms aren’t big enough.” He reaches his arms out as he comes to an abrupt stop in front of them, as if demonstrating, his face twisting into a frown.

“Oh, thanks buddy, how about I pick you up and then you can hug Aunty Courtney too?” Shayne offers, leaning down and picking the six-year-old up when he rapidly nods in acceptance. Shayne manages to shift all of Nathan’s weight into one arm, the other sliding back around Courtney’s waist. For his part, Nathan reaches his free arm out towards Courtney, gripping her forearm, and she lets him pull her arm against Shayne’s chest where he can comfortably grip onto it.

“There, I’m hugging _both_ of you,” he emphasises, clearly pleased with his achievement, causing both Dianne and Chris to laugh, the latter standing up from the couch again to move over near them. “You got big muscles Uncle Shayne. Daddy can’t hold me with one arm anymore.”

“Well you must be getting big and strong too then, hey Nathan?” Shayne brushes off his comment, although Chris laughs loudly at his son’s statement, and they all fall back into comfortable conversation. Dianne excuses herself, after a minute, walking out towards the garage to find the other two men who are yet to reappear.

Nathan decides he has hugged them enough, after a while, and it causes the four of them to move down to the living room couches, joining Rosie and Julie.

“I made you a picture Aunty Courtney,” Rosie enthuses, grabbing for Courtney’s hand when she sits down on the couch just behind where Rosie is still leaning against the coffee table, crayon in hand.

“Oh, really? Do you like drawing?” Courtney indulges her, shifting down off the couch to kneel beside her at the coffee table.

“Yes! Look, it’s Bluey, and me, and you and Uncle Shayne,” she points at four differently-sized and coloured squiggles in front of her on her page, almost reflecting the shapes she has described, “and I drew some flowers because I like flowers.” She finishes with a decided point towards the large red flowers floating above the rest of her drawing.

“You’re a _very_ good drawer, you did a very good job,” Courtney enthuses, fighting back the wave of embarrassing happy-tears she feels against the back of her eyes.

“She’s been working on it all morning for you,” Julie grins, sliding into their conversation, and Courtney nods, giving her a small smile in response. “Hey, Nath and Rosie- do you wanna go visit California in a little while? We can stay at Grandma and Grandpa’s new house they’ve told you about, and Shayne and Courtney live near there too, so you can see them again too,” she suggests, the kids immediately cheering in response.

“You know what else is in California?” Chris asks them, drama in his tone as he lowers his voice, holding them in suspense.

“No?” Nathan prompts, tilting his head in confusion.

“Disneyland!” Chris answers, after a moment, and Nathan literally jumps out of his seat in response as Rosie starts bouncing, grabbing for her mother’s arm.

“I wanna go on a rollercoaster!”

“I wanna meet the princesses!”

“I wanna meet the princesses too!”

“Well, you can both do both of those – and you know, Shayne and Courtney are kind of experts on Disneyland,” Julie tells them, glancing over to let Shayne continue.

“Yeah, we’ve been there lots of times, so we could show you around if you want?” Shayne pushes, both kids giving their enthusiastic agreement as they start chattering away about everything they want to do in California.

Their excited conversation – all six of them, really – doesn’t break until Dianne returns, quietly gesturing for Shayne to follow her out into the garage. Courtney squeezes his hand reassuringly when he reaches out for her, pushing back her concern about the people around them to lean over and press a light kiss to his cheek when he glances at her with fearful eyes. He nods almost imperceptibly in response, reluctantly standing up and following his mother out to the garage.

“Do you want me and your Dad to stay with you two or leave?” his Mum asks softly, as they walk out of the living room, and Shayne shrugs noncommittally, not sure what his answer even is.


	37. Chapter 33: Apologise

“Shayne-“ Brian starts, when he steps out, pausing when Shayne openly grimaces, arms crossed defensively in front of himself. It doesn’t escape Shayne that Brian, despite being half a foot taller than him, is by far the smallest of the Topp boys, and maybe his own posture pushing his arms forward is a little threatening. He chooses to keep it that way.

“Yes?” Shayne presses, expectantly, when Brian doesn’t continue.

“I… apologise for insulting your career path,” Brian responds, hesitantly.

“That’s it?” Shayne starts, when he seems to finish his statement again, “You know that’s not what you did wrong, Brian. You’ve been insulting my career path since I was a kid. And you know, I’m happy to take some teasing, I know my path has been less conventional and we all accept that yes, you’ve worked incredibly hard to get where you are – but I’ve worked my damn ass off to get where I am, too. I _am_ successful, even though I don’t like talking about it – Chris and I are different to you, and you have to accept that for once instead of being an absolute dick about it.”

“Yeah, I see that, now. I… didn’t know,” Brian admits, nodding, “I don’t entirely understand what you do, it’s so far removed from my world. And Chris is… I mean, with him, like, I know he has the workshop he runs, and the house and the wife and kids and whatever. It’s always been harder with you.”

“All you need to do is put the tiniest bit of effort into understanding,” Shayne replies, and Brian shrugs, “and don’t say you don’t have time. You would have time if you wanted to.”

“We’re old and technologically illiterate and we’ve managed to work it out, Brian, I’m sure you can too,” Dianne steps in, “you don’t have to watch everything he does, none of us do – but I mean, did you watch the surprise graduation ceremony they threw for him? That was so sweet.”

“I didn’t, I saw that you sent it to me but I deleted the email,” Brian admits.

“You missed seeing me literally fucking cry on camera,” Shayne shrugs, “but your loss, I guess. I could take you making fun of me for something like that, but I guess instead you just gotta throw out insulting shit about my relationship.”

“Dad said you’re going to marry her,” Brian responds, matter-of-factly, and Shayne nods.

“Yeah. And look, seriously, could you get any more inappropriate than making some comment about a drunk hookup if you tried? Even if she _wasn’t_ the love of my life – seriously, that was screwed up, Brian,” Shayne pushes back.

“You’re dating your coworker, that raises alarm bells to me,” he shrugs.

“That doesn’t give you reason to say shit like that where you’re just openly trying to insult us. The coworker thing is totally different in my industry anyway, given we’re effectively paid to be social. And you should _know_ how serious we are, it’s not like I haven’t openly said it in family group emails that you’ve been part of when we were organising this Christmas thing.”

“Okay,” Brian replies, simply, but it’s not enough for Shayne.

“You owe her an apology, Brian. I just- it’s whatever about me. It’s terrible timing for both of us, we had a similar incident with some fans getting weird about us a couple weeks ago, and it seriously hurt, and I won’t say you doing the same thing doesn’t, but – whatever. I know you, she doesn’t. She is part of our family, she is part of my life and she’s going to be forever. It’s on you to step up and accept that means that she’s part of your family, too, and treat her with respect,” Shayne tells him, forcefully.

“You’re really serious about her, huh?” he prompts, his features softening.

“I’m completely in love with her. I have been for ages, she’s _everything_ to me, and somehow miraculously she feels the same and we have this perfect relationship now and it’s the best thing that I’ve ever experienced,” he replies, matter-of-factly, finally letting his arms fall down to his sides. He isn’t entirely sure where the honesty comes from, especially in front of his parents, but something in Brian’s denial of it all had sparked something in him.

“You could beat me up if you wanted to. Easily,” Brian comments, then, and Shayne laughs, although his tone lacks humour.

“I could, but I don’t do that. But if you can’t – genuinely, not like you fake did to me before – apologise to Courtney, then I don’t think you’re going to be particularly welcome in my life.”

“Okay. And- I’m sorry, to you, too, Shayne. I know you said it’s whatever but- I underestimated this, and I thought I’d be walking into a group of people who agreed with me, but that’s clearly not the case. I get that she’s part of our family now. And maybe I need to work a little harder on being part of the family myself,” Brian admits, rocking back on his heels, and Dianne nods.

“I love all of you boys, I really do, but Brian, you’re really in the wrong here – and I love Courtney and Julie too, they may not technically be my daughters, but close enough. I know Shayne isn’t aware, but I certainly haven’t forgotten that you were antagonistic to Julie too when you first met her – that’s not okay, Brian. That’s not how we raised you boys.”

“I know. And I… yeah, I guess I get now that this isn’t just… a silly thing. Okay. I’m sorry I fucked- er, messed up our Christmas thing. Can we start again?” Brian requests, and Rob laughs.

“Swear all you want, buddy, I know your proper corporate thing is just an act. Just- not in front of the kids?”

“I still feel weird swearing in front of my parents,” he mumbles, before they all turn and start walking out of the garage, back into the house.

“It’s easier if you constantly swear on the internet for work,” Shayne comments, walking ahead with his mother as they enter the living room.

The living room is in comfortable peace when they re-enter. Shayne has to bite back the rush of fondness he feels, seeing Courtney leaning against the coffee table with the two kids either side of her, all three of them colouring the same picture. Julie, for her part, is sitting across the table from them and providing assistance with locating colours from the packet of crayons now sprawled all over the place, while Chris sits up on the couch behind them.

“Hey guys,” Chris greets them, when they walk in, and it causes Courtney to briefly look up and meet Shayne’s eyes.

“Hey guys, how about you try and colour as _much_ of that as you can while I go have a chat to your uncles?” Courtney comments to the kids softly, and they quickly nod, Courtney standing up and hesitantly walking over to stand beside Shayne. Dianne and Rob hesitate for a second before walking through to the living room to join Julie and Chris, leaving Brian to step into the room fully and face Shayne and Courtney.

“Courtney, I- I’m very sorry for earlier. I said some very rude and inappropriate things, and I do apologise,” Brian speaks up, taking a deep breath, “I know I’ve made a terrible first impression, but could we start again?”

“Thank you for apologising,” Courtney replies, carefully, nodding slightly.

“I- Hey, it is really nice to finally meet you, I’m glad all of us could make it to our little early Christmas this year,” Brian offers a fresh greeting, holding his hand out for her to shake. She makes a point of giving a slightly tighter handshake than she would normally, but she smiles and accepts his greeting, before they fall back into their mini Christmas celebration. It stays a little awkward around Brian, but between Rob and Chris, they manage to steer clear of anything particularly dicey over their lunch and their kid-free hour or so when Rosie goes for a nap and Nathan sets himself down in front of Julie’s iPad to watch a show.

“You having fun colouring in with the kids there before?” Shayne teases Courtney, a little while after lunch. Julie and Dianne are sitting with them, while the other three boys have taken it upon themselves to clean up the dishes after lunch – Shayne had volunteered to help, but Chris had pushed him away, telling him there was only room for three in the kitchen anyway (which wasn’t totally inaccurate).

“Certainly not my least favourite thing to do with kids,” Courtney laughs lightly, shaking her head. “I think I need to read up on this Bluey show before I next see Rosie, I half-assed an attempt at drawing an outline for her to colour it but it was not ideal.”

“She still loved it,” Julie comments, and Courtney nods. “I think she randomly ran into the show in the kids part of Youtube or something, I don’t know, but it’s really got her. Apparently it’s a big deal over in Australia, but it’s hard to find much about it here.”

“Well, we are heading over to Australia in a couple months, if she’s still obsessing over it then we can always be on the lookout for Bluey stuff,” Shayne suggests, and Julie nods.

“I don’t see this obsession going away anytime soon, so yes, she’d love that – you’re going over there for work, you said?”

“Yeah, we’re doing a mini version of the tour show at a couple of fan convention things,” Courtney explains, “and probably filming some bits and pieces too.”

“I think every YouTube channel ever eventually has a video where they pat koalas in Australia, so why not us?” Shayne adds, shrugging.

————————————————

They get back to their hotel in the evening, this time, having said goodbye to the others with a promise to catch up with all of them again – well, except Brian – early in the new year. They order something from ubereats to their room for dinner, taking the couple of hours to relax and pack up their things to briefly return to LA the following morning, before they then head to Utah to see Courtney’s family.

“You gonna put that up on the fridge at home?” Shayne asks, teasing lightly, as Courtney carefully pulls Rosie’s drawing of them out of her bag and slides it into her laptop case to keep it flat. Rosie had been _very_ insistent she take it with her.

“Maybe,” Courtney laughs, “I kinda love hanging out with those kids, you’re right, they’re super sweet.”

“I like hanging out with them too, and I maybe almost cried a little when Rosie gave you that because come on…” Shayne trails off, laughing at himself a little. Courtney nods in understanding, leaning down to press a kiss against his lips before she returns to tidying up her things.

“Christmas in Utah is going to be much more hectic than that was, unfortunately – although probably more uneventful, too,” she shrugs.

“I mean, I am meeting your mother for the first time and more siblings,” Shayne points out, but Courtney just shakes her head.

“Yeah, they’ll all be super chill though. I’m more worried about whether Django will remember you.”

Her worries aren’t realised – Django bounds excitedly up to both of them the second they get to her Mother’s house, and after some confused sniffing, his memory seems to kick in and he’s all over Shayne. Kari, and Courtney’s Mum, both know how much time Django had spent with Shayne back when Courtney had him, so they aren’t surprised.

Courtney’s other assessment is correct, too – it’s hectic, with substantially more people in attendance than there was at the Topp family Christmas in Seattle, but it’s also light and relaxed. Kari provides the only major drama, possibly intentionally, by openly admitting to their mother that her boyfriend is mostly just a friend-with-benefits. Shayne, for his part, finds Courtney’s mother easy enough to get on with, and she seems to like him.

“Can we just sleep until next year when we get home?” Courtney asks, leaning heavily against Shayne’s side as they sit in the plane, waiting to take off from Utah and head back to LA properly the day after Christmas.

“We have that work party on Monday night, which I guess is technically a couple days before next year,” Shayne reminds her, “but otherwise, yes.”

“Perf. That party should be good, though, we haven’t had a good office party for a while and Mythical’s gotta be a great space for it,” Courtney responds, cuddling closer into his chest as she does.

“It does, Josh told me they’ve had a few good ones in there,” he answers, reaching to wrap her hands in his own.

“What insanity was he cooking when he told you that?”

“He didn’t say, but it smelt _awful_.”


	38. Chapter 34: Are We Really at Work, Though?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hadn't titled this chapter yet and I'm posting in the 30 seconds I have free before work so back to the 'quote from chapter' titling method... Also, the other ship I did not directly drop the name of but vaguely referenced a few chapters back gets actually named this time.

“Hey guys! How was all the family?” Sarah greets them enthusiastically when they step into their office late on the Monday evening, the place already packed full of their co-workers from both the Smosh and broader Mythical teams, although with darker lighting, more music and a lot less paperwork lying around than usual. The desks have been pushed out of the way where possible, too, leaving ample space for more party-appropriate activities.

“Hey Sarah, it was good, good,” Courtney answers, not giving much detail, knowing they’ll catch up properly later. Shayne offers to go and grab drinks for them, and Courtney nods, letting herself fall into conversation with a couple of Mythical’s writers. Kimmy joins them five minutes later, and they launch into conversations about their respective Christmases. The two Mythical writers excuse themselves a moment later, and Courtney glances around the room, meeting Damien’s eyes as soon as she finds him. He evidently gets her message, and a minute later he casually wanders up beside them.

“Hey Courtney, hey Kimmy! It’s been a while, how are you guys going?” He asks, and it launches them into a pleasant conversation. Courtney stays with them for a few minutes, until she’s sure they’re locked in a genuine conversation.

“I should go find Shayne, he was meant to be getting a drink for me like half an hour ago,” Courtney laughs, excusing herself and walking off towards where she knows a few of the Smosh crew are standing. She glances back when she’s a far enough distance away, happy to see the pair are still carrying their conversation without her.

“Hey baby, you got them talking?” Shayne finds her before she has a chance to find him, arm wrapping around her shoulders as he hands her a light beer.

“Yeah, it fell into place pretty easily – Kimmy came over to me, I nudged Damien to come join us when the Mythical team walked off. God knows if they’ll hit it off, but – I mean, Damien’s happy to just get to know her as a friend, yeah?” she comments, Shayne nodding.

“Yeah, he is, he’s not the slightest bit pushy. I don’t know a whole heap about Kimmy either, honestly,” Shayne admits.

Their conversation ends when Ian and Matt Raub wander up to them, and it starts them into a train of conversations around the office spaces, punctuated by frequent trips to the kitchen to grab drinks. They separate, for a while, Shayne finding himself talking sports with a few of the Mythical writers as Courtney chats, across the room, to Monica and Stevie, plus or minus a few others that come and go. They’re both decently tipsy, as are most of their coworkers, and it keeps the room loud, conversation flowing amicably.

“Hey hey Court, big meeting room?” Damien questions her, wandering past a bit later into the night. He doesn’t stop, but she laughs and shrugs, excusing herself from the people around her to head via the kitchen on her way to follow his suggestion. She finds Shayne grabbing another drink, and he grabs a second as soon as he sees her, holding it up as a question.

“Yep, thanks baby,” she replies, walking up beside him, “Damien just asked me to go to the big meeting room, you coming?”

“Sure,” Shayne answers, hand settling on her lower back as they walk in. They find their squad-plus-extras taking up most of the bench seat in the back corner, walking over to meet them. Liv and Sam are sitting half on top of each other at one edge of the circle, Damien and Kimmy beside them, Noah and Keith sitting on the table opposite them to form a sort-of-circle.

“Mind if we jump in here?” Courtney asks, cheerily, not waiting for a response as she and Shayne take the empty space at the edge of the circle, her sitting sideways across his lap.

“Hey hey Shourtney,” Liv greets them, and Courtney laughs off the name, asking Liv and Sam about the tropical holiday they’d taken during their two weeks’ break post-tour.

“How’d you guys go with all your family time?” Damien asks them, in follow up a few minutes later, and Courtney grins.

“Nathan and Rosie, Chris’ kids, are so damn cute, Seattle was super fun,” she answers.

“Rosie absolutely adored Court too,” Shayne grins, reaching for his phone and flicking through to find one of the many photos he’d ended up with of Courtney and Rosie sitting together on Chris’ living room floor.

“Ohmygod so adorable!” Liv squeals, “mostly the kid, but you know!”

“You guys over here being domestic as hell is pretty cute too,” Keith answers, and Courtney shrugs, both of them quietly agreeing before their conversation again pushes on into slightly more abstract places.

“Hey Dames, you get any Christmas presents for your geese?” Kimmy asks him, some time later, and Courtney exchanges a look with Shayne before they both look back to the conversation.

“I did, actually, they got a bunch of catnip toys and went _super_ druggo with them – you wanna see?” he asks, Kimmy nodding and moving closer to him as he pulls out his phone.

“Ohmigod, they’re so fluffy! It’s Zelda and Freyja, right, which one is which?” Kimmy continues, her right arm reaching around behind Damien and resting against the bench seat behind him. She isn’t touching him – but she’s leaning, and it makes Shayne smirk, hiding his face in Courtney’s hair as he does.

For her part, Courtney finishes the rest of her drink as she waves to Keith and Noah when they excuse themselves to go bug Ian about something, before leaning more heavily against Shayne, twisting to draw her attention back to him. Liv and Sam have retreated into their own bubble, too, so it’s only fair.

“I like this shirt,” Shayne comments, hand running gently down the side of Courtney’s ribcage as he says it. “You look good in it.”

“You sure you don’t just like it because it’s quite a crop top and you can get your hands on me without it being _inappropriate_?” she grins, leaning forward to loop her arms around his neck, forearms resting on top of his shoulders. She doesn’t miss his quick glance down at her chest, now much closer to his face, and it makes her laugh lightly.

“I don’t _hate_ that I can touch you,” he admits, a moment later, hands pressing against her lower back, just catching the base of her shirt. “I’m a little drunk.”

“Same,” Courtney replies, “I really wanna kiss you. Can I?”

“Definitely,” Shayne mumbles his response, pulling her against him and into a firm kiss. His hands remain firmly on her lower back, and it burns with his touch, spurring her on to deepen their kiss and knot one of her own hands into his hair. He gasps lightly against her mouth when her nails scratch gently across his scalp, and it breaks their kiss for a moment, both pulling back ever so slightly and pausing to consider the situation.

“We should stop,” Courtney mumbles, after a moment, although she leans forward and presses another kiss against his lips after she says so. “Maybe if I get another drink I’ll stop kissing you.”

“That seems – like flawed logic, but also a good idea,” Shayne answers, reluctantly pulling away from her. They both stand up, a quick glance revealing everyone around them is otherwise occupied – and Damien and Kimmy have disappeared – and not paying any attention as they walk purposefully through to the kitchen.

“I feel like we are risking breaking our rule tonight,” Shayne tells Courtney quietly, as they lean against the back kitchen bench beside each other, new drinks in hand.

“Are we _really_ at work, though?” she queries, and he tilts his head.

“You have a point…”

“I’m down if you are,” Courtney raises an eyebrow at him, taking a swig from her drink, intentionally running her tongue across the top of the bottle when she finishes. He responds by turning around to stand in front of her, hands resting on the bench either side of her, boxing her in.

“How about we play a little game?” He suggests, softly, and she grins.

“I’m interested?” she prompts him to explain further.

“I am going to go back to the party, and socialise with all our friends, and- the first one to break and take us to that bathroom can’t cum first,” Shayne grins, and Courtney nods.

“You’re on, you seem to forget how easily I can get you,” Courtney responds, reaching around him to scratch her nails lightly against his back. He leans into it, for a moment, before pressing forward, pulling her into another deep kiss. His tongue presses into her mouth and she can’t even remotely convince herself to complain, arms pulling his body even tighter against her. After a minute, though, he pulls away, face flushed, laughing lightly at his own ease of giving in.

“Can’t wait to have a different part of you in my mouth,” she comments, as he steps away from her, and she uses his resulting arousal and loosening grip on the bench behind her to step sideways away from him, walking from the kitchen back out into the main room where everyone is gathered, quickly locating Sarah to distract her.

Shayne, for his part, takes a deep breath to compose himself before turning around, seeing Damien catching his eye from across the kitchen.

“Hey, Dames,” he greets him, walking up to him, feeling his balance skew slightly as he does so – although he can manage it, for now.

“Kimmy asked me out. I think,” Damien says, immediately, and it pulls Shayne’s mind totally away from his little game with his girlfriend.

“You think? Really? What happened?” Shayne asks, enthusiastically, although he keeps his voice low.

“We’ve been talking basically constantly since Court left us alone, just… about whatever, I dunno, and then Ian started bugging us about not talking to anyone else and after we got him to piss off she just kind of… asked if I wanted to go out sometime. And she specified date, and I said yes,” Damien explains, rocking on his feet, “and both her and I are totally sober, unlike you and your girlfriend.”

“Happy for you Dames, that’s super cool, you guys hit it off yeah?” Shayne reinforces, skipping his latter comment.

“Yeah, it’s – nice. Can we catch up in a couple days or something, just us, chat about a few things like that? I know it’s not the time or place now,” Damien requests, and Shayne nods.

“Yeah, definitely, I’ve got some stuff to talk about too,” Shayne admits, “and yes, I’m a tiny bit drunk.”

“Only a tiny bit?” he pushes.

“Okay, a fair bit, but- I know what I’m doing. Just… bolder,” he nods, glancing around to try and find Courtney.

“Good luck with that. She went back into the main room,” Damien laughs, and Shayne shrugs.

“I am trying to stay away from her right now,” he gives a partial explanation, “although maybe staying away while… in the same room… would be good.”

Damien indulges him, both of them walking back out into the large office space and taking up a spot beside a game of beer pong that has been set up between some of the crew. Tim is doing surprisingly well paired up with Kevin, two of their camera guys are not doing so well up the other end of the table, and they let themselves get washed up in the support for said camera guys as complete underdogs.

Still, Shayne’s eyes stray frequently, locking with Courtney’s across the room. He can’t do a whole lot else, and the one time he does – tapping two fingers against his lips in the shape of a V when he knows she is watching him – he gets called out by two of the guys behind him, and he has to quickly brush it off as nothing.

Miraculously, their camera guys come back and win the game in a one-cup-left-each finish, Tim prompting everyone to cheer for their victory as he takes the last cup from his side, cheers it in the air and drinks.

“Who’s next?” someone else calls out.

“Come on, team peamup bubber?” Damien pushes Shayne, and Shayne raises an eyebrow.

“Thought you were sober?”

“I am, doesn’t mean I have to stay that way,” he steps forward, volunteering their team, and Shayne agrees. They end up with Sarah and Emily, one of Mythical’s writers, at the opposite end, and a significantly larger crowd forming around them.


	39. Chapter 35: Evidence

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW for alcohol and sexual references but no direct explicit content.

Truthfully, Shayne is kind of pitiful at beer pong, and his depth perception is more than a little wobbly already, but he manages to make his first shot anyway. Sarah drinks, throwing a middle finger up at him as she does. He is distracted from the game for a moment, feeling a hand run intentionally across his back. He turns to chastise whoever it was until he sees Courtney appear beside him, smiling conspiratorially. He calms down, then. She’s the only person allowed to touch him like that.

“Hey, no third team members!” Emily calls out, pausing before she takes her shot.

“Oh, I don’t think I’ll be _helping_ him at all,” Courtney brushes the comment off, tone darker than she’d usually use in front of anyone else, before using everyone’s focus returning to the shot as distraction as she slides her hand into his back pocket, squeezing lightly. The ball misses on the first try, but on the second attempt thrown by Sarah, it lands squarely in their central cup. Damien takes the drink, before stepping up to take his turn.

“I’m going to get you by the end of this game,” Courtney leans in to whisper in Shayne’s ear as Damien takes his shot, kissing him firmly near the base of his jaw before she moves away from him, standing almost directly in his line of sight over behind Sarah and Emily. Damien gets his shot in, thankfully, so Shayne has a break for a round, watching the girls opposite them miss their two attempts in response.

Shayne misses his next shot, watching Courtney absentmindedly running her fingers up and down the near-empty beer bottle she’s holding instead of watching where his shot goes. She laughs in response, playing up her support for Sarah’s team with the other group over that side of the table. He has to drink, the next time, and he makes a point of staring straight at her as he does.

Despite his regular distractions across the table and the surprisingly accurate aim from the other team, Damien and Shayne do manage to stay roughly on par with them, though, each ending up with two cups left each.

“Hey, Shayne, that lipstick you’ve got on is staying pretty well, what brand is it?” Sarah calls out, some attempt at a teasing joke the next time he goes to throw after their tie at two left, both teams having called for a rerack at the same time.

“NARS,” he answers, matter-of-factly, figuring there’s no way he can really avoid the implication and she was wearing quite a deep colour, so god knows where it is on him now, “it’s a good colour on me, I know.”

He lands the shot with a wide smirk, Sarah sighing as she hands off the drink to her partner.

“Is it actually, Courtney?” Sarah turns to her, and Courtney laughs.

“I can’t fucking remember, probably,” she shrugs, before disappearing back into the crowd as the game continues. Shayne isn’t surprised when he feels his phone buzz in his pocket a moment later, and he tries to find the will to ignore it for five seconds before he relents and reaches into his pocket, flicking across the screen to open the notification.

“It is NARS, it looks extra good somewhere else,” the text reads, followed by an eggplant and water droplet, because apparently she is going the shameless route.

“Someone want to tap in for me on the actual drinking? I was sober before this game and it is hitting me _way_ too quickly,” Damien calls out, before Sarah takes a shot again a couple of rounds of misses from both sides later.

“I’ll drink for you,” Courtney steps forward, apparently having navigated around to their side again. Their judge-of-sorts – Garret, currently, by his own decree, although he’s also involved in an argument with someone else off to the side about god knows what – agrees, and Sarah makes the shot, Courtney reaching for the cup and downing it immediately. It’s kind of hot in a way Shayne can’t quite describe, and he pauses for a moment, staring at her.

“Go on, babeeeeeey,” she tells him, dragging out the world intentionally as she pushes him towards the table. He shakes his head to try and get into gear, managing to _just_ make the shot, leaving the two teams again on a single cup each. Damien and a few others who have evidently chosen their team make a show of moving around behind the table to try and distract, but the next shot lands in the last cup sitting in front of them, Sarah-and-supporters cheering in response as Emily gives an overexaggerated bow.

“Congrats, you suck,” Courtney tells him, grinning as he reluctantly takes the cup and makes a show out of congratulating the others, Damien beside him, before he downs the beer. There’s a fight to participate in the next round, and he uses it as distraction to take Courtney’s hand tightly in his and guide her away from the game, over to a relatively hidden corner at the back of the room.

“Yeah, I can suck if you’d like. Or lick,” he tells her, playing off her last utterance as she leans back against the wall, eyes burning into his as he hovers, just barely maintaining space between them.

“You gonna get on your knees for me?” she replies, reaching out to pull him against her. He places his hands on her hips, before running one up her side, under her shirt, running around to her front as he crosses her ribcage, his fingers sliding ever so slightly under the underwire of her bra. “Is this your way of saying you give in? Because you’re about two seconds from feeling me up in public,” she laughs, lips pressing against the corner of his mouth. Still, he quickly moves his hand down again.

“Sorry,” he murmurs, but she quickly shakes her head.

“I wasn’t telling you to stop.”

“I give in. Come on,” he admits, a moment later, stepping away from her and sliding his hand down her arm to take hers. She follows, laughing and pressing against his side as they stride back through the office, stumbling slightly as they do so. Courtney sees Liv trying to get her attention out of the corner of her eye as they walk past, but the thought passes through her mind without sticking.

Their usual hidden bathroom is, mercifully, both empty and unlocked, and they step inside, skipping any pretence as it is locked quickly behind them.

It isn’t neat by any sense of the word – they are probably the most drunk they’ve ever been together, or at least, since they got together – and it isn’t particularly coordinated, but they manage. They know each other well, by this point.

“I love you,” she whispers, head buried against his neck when they have finished, quite some time later.

“I love you too, Court,” he answers simply, as they both stumble away from each other and attempt to clean up to at least some extent.

“God, we both look so fucked,” he laughs, arm wrapping around her from behind as he presses against her back, looking into the mirror in front of them. He’s right – his hair is sticking in wild directions from her fingers running through it, hers tousled from pressing against his shoulder. Her lipstick, as good as it is at staying, also transfers like a bitch and he has smudged marks showing the path her lips took off to the side of his mouth and down across his jaw and neck to his shoulder. There’s the hint of a handful of hickeys already appearing, too, the remnants of teeth marks lining up with light purple bruises.

“You wanna try and clean your face?” Courtney asks him, head leaning gently to the side against his.

“Nah – I’ll fix my hair, leave it at that,” he replies, lowering his voice, “I like when you mark me.”

“So hot,” she mumbles in response, twisting around to press another kiss against his lips and reaching up to try and rearrange his hair into something resembling his usual style.

“Can we go home?” he asks.

“Yeah. I’ll – call an uber before we walk out and hope no one sees us,” she replies, fumbling for her phone, not finding it. “Shit- I left my phone out there somewhere. Shit fuck I need that.”

“Shit. I can call an uber. But- you wanna go look for it? You… also look like we’ve fucked,” he admits, and she shakes her head.

“Don’t really wanna be out there looking like this. This is for just you.”

“Damien- was already suspicious?” Shayne suggests, after a moment, “I can text him to get it and… put near the front door or here or something?”

Courtney nods her assent, wracking her intoxicated brain to try and remember where she left it.

“court left her phone we think sarah or back desk,” Shayne types out a text, accidentally hitting send before he finishes, swearing before he continues typing, “can uyo put it table near ba ck d or?”

“Why can’t you come get it?” Damien’s reply comes through almost immediately, followed by two smirking emojis. “I can guess, okay, I have it and I will put it near the door for you to grab when you sneak out, you horny idiots.”

“thanks asshole,” Shayne types out a reply, reaching over to fix Courtney’s hair slightly before they slip out of the bathroom, taking the long route past some of the studios through dark hallways towards the exit, leaning heavily against each other. They come to an abrupt stop when they almost reach the exit, seeing Damien chatting to someone who is evidently leaving, Courtney’s phone in his hand.

“Yeah, have a good night,” Damien laughs, stepping back and turning around as the door shuts behind whoever it was. “Oh, hello, you two.”

“…Hi,” Shayne answers, hesitantly, and Courtney shifts around to hide her face against his neck, remembering all evidence of what they had been doing is on her front and largely his neck, where her hair now cascades across it.

“I don’t need to ask. You got an uber or something coming?” He queries.

“Yeah,” Shayne answers, and Damien nods.

“Cool, I got your phone Court.”

“Don’t fuckin judge,” she mumbles, reluctantly pulling away from Shayne and reaching out to take the phone when Damien hands it to her.

“Not judging,” he reassures them, before his tone turns teasing, “although that doesn’t look like the bad drunk sex you’ve mentioned.”

“Shut up,” Shayne admonishes him, before they say awkward goodbyes and step outside, sliding into the back seat of the uber which turns up a few minutes later, hands to themselves until they get home.


	40. Chapter 36: Damien and Shayne

Damien and Shayne schedule their catch up for two days after New Years, but Damien reschedules they day before, telling Shayne that Kimmy had suggested they hang out then and he didn’t want to say no to her.

“Of course, enjoy your night!! See you the day after?” Shayne texts him back, immediately, and so they meet on the third at Shayne & Courtney’s place, the latter going out with some of her own friends to give them space for their at-home boys’ night.

“So how was your date?” Shayne asks, the second Damien settles down up the opposite end of the couch.

“It was nice,” he starts, nodding, “I was super nervous but it was easy enough to relax into because I kinda already knew we get along? We talked a whole lot about all sorts of stuff, shared dumplings for dinner, and we wandered around for a while after just so we could keep talking.”

“Is there going to be a second date, and did either of you make any kind of move?”

“I paid, so there’s... that, and we held hands a little while we were wandering around, nothing else though. I think there will be a second one, I mean, we both said we had a nice time and we’d have to catch up again soon so... yeah. I’m not rushing anything here, but it’s nice,” Damien admits.

“You mentioned a while back that you weren’t totally sure about feelings or anything - any clearer picture now?” Shayne pushes, and Damien nods.

“Yeah. I know I’m attracted to her, have been for a while, but the more I get to know her the more I like her. She’s actually into some of the same stuff I am - not games so much, but anime, and even cats, that kind of thing. She’s a secret nerd, which is perfect for working with Smosh I guess but it’s also... Yeah, we have plenty to talk about,” he explains, “also she is super sweet, that’s not an act.”

“As much as you’re letting sassy Damien out more often these days, it makes sense that you’d go for someone who is very sweet, because you’re still super careful and courteous yourself,” he tells him, Damien nodding in response.

“I think it’s something I do intentionally, and I mean, she’s very relaxed too and I’m not really looking for anything intense or whatever so... yeah. It’s nice. And it’s also like, I think even if we do end up stepping back to just friends, it’s gonna be fine.”

“Do you think you will go back to just friends?” Shayne pushes, and Damien shrugs.

“I don’t want to, but I can’t get a read on what she wants.”

“She asked you on the first date, right? How about you plan a second one - sooner rather than later - and see what happens then? You never know,” Shayne suggests, and Damien nods.

“I need to come up with an idea for something to ask her to do. I want to be more interesting than just dinner again, but I want it to be somewhere we can talk,” he muses, “I dunno, would it be weird to ask her to go to a museum or something? Is that too nerdy?”

“That seems like the kind of thing you’d both be interested in, especially if you can find somewhere that has a cool exhibition or something on,” Shayne prompts, Damien nodding in response.

“Okay, yeah, maybe I’ll look into that,” he comments, sounding a little more enthusiastic, “I think I can do that. That could be fun.”

“I hope it is, Dames, it seems up your alley.”

“I know I was the one who called this to talk, but I don’t actually have much to overanalyse about this now I’ve been out with her. It’s... easier than I expected. I’ll have to thank Court though, she really helped us get talking there at that party,” Damien admits.

“Court will probably be back before you leave, she’s just having a relaxed night out with Liv and a couple other vine friends they haven’t caught up with for a while,” Shayne explains, “can I tell Court about your date? She won’t tell anyone else or anything, but it’s cool if you don’t want me to.”

“No, it’s fine, you can tell her. You two seemed to have an interesting night at that party too?” he switches the topic, with a raised eyebrow.

“I guess we did,” Shayne gives an embarrassed shrug, “we both got pretty drunk pretty quickly, I asked her to kiss me once – or at least, I think I asked first – and we kind of went crazy from there. There might have been a little competition to see who could hold out longer before we had to find somewhere private.”

“Who won?” Damien pries, and Shayne laughs.

“She did. I threw the game on purpose because there was a prize of sorts and I wanted her to have it.”

“Let me guess, this prize was you doing something in particular?”

“....yes.”

“I’m guessing from what I saw at the door a bit later that you miiiiight have broken your rule?” Damien requests.

“Technically we didn’t break it because we weren’t at work at the time, or that’s how we justified it anyway, but yeah, that happened,” Shayne admits, “sorry you saw us like that. We figured you were safest, although we didn’t exactly want to actually… see you.”

“It’s all good, as you’ve said before, we’re all adults, although maybe I got a little bit too much information on certain things this time. I was trying to leave the phone and run but I got caught up with a couple of the Mythical guys leaving, but- I’m trying to block the specifics out of my memory. Although I see you are not hiding the hickeys,” Damien responds, making a show of peering over to Shayne’s neck.

“I think I need to buy concealer specifically for this purpose, hers is the wrong undertone for me, apparently,” he laughs awkwardly, “I... ooh boy. So… I’m kinda into her marking me? Kinda don’t like covering it up.”

“Nice, Shayne. Nice,” Damien grins, teasing, “it’s interesting to watch you be open about having a healthy and active sex life, after you’ve had none for so long. You cool if I get nosy?”

“It depends a little what info you’re asking for but yeah, go for it, I’ll just say no if I don’t want to say anything.”

“Are you still enjoying it as a broad idea? Still as good as you’ve said?” Damien asks, and Shayne immediately nods.

“Yeah. If anything it’s got better again, especially since I’ve got a little more vocal about stuff. It’s just really, really good because we’re both so committed to us and… yeah.”

“How often do you... let’s say go far enough that someone comes?” He asks, again, and Shayne tilts his head in contemplation for a moment.

“It varies depending on how we feel and things but - I think the longest we’ve gone without something is a bit over a week and that was when we were in different places, and most of the time it’s probably at least a couple times a week. Or maybe even more often,” he admits.

“Cool, cool. We can stop talking about this if you want, I don’t want to make you uncomfortable, you just seem to be wildly moving between embarrassed and wanting to talk about it,” Damien reassures him, and Shayne nods, pausing for a second.

“Part of me does want to talk to you about it more because it’s... such a big part of my life now because our relationship is such a big part of my life, and I dunno, it feels kinda nice in an emotional sense to admit that openly. I’ve actually talked to her about it again because it’s like - the descriptive detail is just for us, and it’s not my place to tell you anything about her side of it, but I kinda want to talk about my side of it in the few ways I can without implicating anything too private,” Shayne admits.

“Is this where you comment about liking the hickeys came from?” Damien queries, watching as Shayne nods, “I won’t tease if you want to say more.”

“It’s totally fine if you do tease, honestly,” he shrugs, “but yeah I- neither of us are the slightest bit exhibitionist. Whenever we’ve done something a little more in front of friends or the cameras it’s never driven by the fact people can see us, it’s because we want each other enough to offset the fact that we don’t want people to see us. But at the same time... I kind of love having visual evidence of what we do. For myself as much as anything, I love when she gets possessive and a little aggressive and it’s just... yeah. Super hot.”

“You secretly a bit of a submissive there?” Damien jokes, and Shayne laughs.

“Yeah. I’m hers, she can do literally whatever she wants to me, although both of us play both sides of that, so.”

“How far does this liking visual evidence thing go? Because you both seemed a little embarrassed at that party,” Damien moves the topic slightly, and Shayne nods.

“It doesn’t go that far. I know we absolutely looked like we just fucked, that particular look isn’t for sharing, we were trying to get out without being seen. I’m okay with a couple hickeys and I’m okay with the occasional lipstick print on my cheek, but- not everything then. There were a few things happening then that are not so much for sharing, I’m not going to name them in case you didn’t see.”

“I made a point of not looking at her,” Damien admits, “I know I’m close to both of you, but I’m not close enough to her that I could ever have this kind of conversation with her so I kept my eyes down and just handed over the phone without actually _looking_ at her- and she seemed particularly embarrassed, so. But let’s just say I did look at you and saw some things on you that I didn’t want to. Like your face being wet with something that was definitely not water.”

“Oh no,” Shayne groans, grabbing for one of the decorative pillows on the couch and shoving it in front of his face, “thank you for telling me but also oh god no”

“I will never say a word again and I’m trying to forget I saw it,” Damien laughs, “so I guess I know what that prize was.”

“Okay okay stop that’s too far-“ Shayne mumbles.

“Sure,” Damien replies, and Shayne feels him move off the end of the couch and hears his footsteps over towards the kitchen. Damien is setting a glass of water on the table in front of him when he finally moves the pillow from in front of his face, and he thanks him, taking the water down in too-quick gulps.

“I’m sorry for pushing you too far,” Damien continues when he sits back down, but Shayne just shakes his head.

“It’s fine, dude. We were both embarrassed at the time and also very drunk and super out of it- and I guess at least it was you, because if anyone else saw us like that we would be mercilessly teased forever. And if it was Ian, he might’ve fired us. But yeah, I can trust you to actually forget about it, yeah?”

“Of course. It’ll never come up again. I don’t think Ian would fire you though. I mean, he was also very, very trashed, you missed him making a fool of himself at beer pong barely even getting anything on the table. But it was a tiny bit obvious when the two of you ran off right through the middle of the office,” Damien grins, and Shayne laughs.

“I have a vague memory of brushing off some people trying to talk to us but let’s just say we were focused on getting somewhere in particular and I’m hoping most people were drunk enough to forget.”

“Probably true. I was only a little out of it, I wasn’t kidding when I said the beer pong hit me quicker than I expected but it didn’t last. I wasn’t planning on staying sober that night but I just kind of got caught up talking to Kimmy and didn’t get to getting a drink,” Damien shrugs, “talking of which- what are we getting for dinner?”


	41. Chapter 37: What Would You Think?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More fun best friends' time! Also apologies for the delayed update I totally forgot what day it was this morning. December be like that. Enjoy.

They order Thai food, and their conversation heads in a much less personal direction as they fire up Shayne’s PS4 while they wait for the excessively long DoorDash delivery time. Damien wins everything they play (which isn’t the slightest bit abnormal), but Shayne mercilessly makes fun of him anyway after their food arrives and they sit down at the dining table to actually eat their dinner, until they fall into comfortable silence for a moment.

“Can I ask something totally abstract that clearly isn’t but you can pretend it is?” Shayne breaks the silence, pausing with a forkful of food halfway to his mouth.

“Go for it,” Damien confirms, raising an inquisitive eyebrow. Shayne pauses for a moment, finishing his mouthful, before looking down and stabbing his fork into his food as he speaks.

“What would you think about a theoretical random youtube couple that got engaged less than a year after getting together?”

“Well…” Damien trails off, Shayne refusing to meet his eyes as he continues eating his pad thai, “I can only base a _theoretical_ assessment on where I hear the most about youtube couples, which is like, drama-heavy beauty youtube and things like that, and it’s not usually a good thing when they get engaged quickly because they usually break up before they actually get married.”

“It never _looks_ very good, does it,” Shayne replies, trying to distance his tone from his emotions.

“It doesn’t exactly look good when those particular couples do anything, it all looks pretty ingenuine and put on for show. As much as the engagement speed is part of it, it is just a piece of an overall bad picture,” Damien replies, “and, you know, usually they get together as soon as they meet each other, and they’re all over each other in front of as many cameras as possible, and basically they are nothing like you and Courtney.”

“I talked to my Dad and Chris about it up in Seattle. I’ve got it in my head that I’m going too fast and I shouldn’t be thinking so seriously about asking her yet, but…” Shayne sighs.

“What did they say?”

“They didn’t _really_ give me a direct response but they kind of said there isn’t really a right time when I should be thinking about it and I’ll know when I want to, which…” he trails off again.

“You guys had a pretty good time up in Seattle, didn’t you?” Damien asks, again, “I’m guessing that drawing on the fridge is from one of Chris’ kids?”

“Yeah, Rosie his youngest absolutely _adored_ Courtney, and the third day we spent with them we got there and she’d apparently spent all morning drawing this picture of her favourite TV character and her and us. And… so Brian was kind of an asshole to Courtney, said some really inappropriate shit and really minimised our relationship – and the fact we’re both actors –, and my parents stuck up for us pretty fiercely. Mum is extending her casual ‘goodbye, love you’ thing at the end of phone calls to Courtney too, and it’s just… I _love_ it, so fucking much. There’s nothing I want more than for Courtney to be part of my family. I don’t want it to be… Shayne’s niece and nephew. They’re her family too,” he admits, twirling his fork through his food, “and I kind of want her family to be my family, too. As much as her family is almost scarily large and hectic.”

“That all sounds really positive, other than Brian still being an ass, I’m glad you had a good time with your families,” Damien nods, “but you don’t sound totally positive.”

“I am genuinely so, so happy that all of this is happening. I can’t even describe how amazing it felt to have my parents defend us, for it to just be absolutely normal and expected that she was part of our family gathering and for me to be part of the stuff in Utah, too. I mean, some of her siblings thought we’d been dating for way longer because Django was all over me and we were talking about when I spent so much time with Django when Court still had him over here,” Shayne grins.

“Ooh, he remembered you, did he?” Damien takes the slight topic change.

“Oh yeah, definitely, he ran up to Courtney and jumped all over her for like ten seconds before he evidently smelt me beside her and just went crazy on me. He’s so much happier out there in Utah too, way less stress than being in an apartment and he gets cuddles from Court’s Mum all the time,” Shayne nods.

“So you _are_ positive and excited about all of this, but you’re getting in your head about something when you actually try and talk about it?” Damien prompts, Shayne nodding slowly in response.

“My first thought when I consider all of this is that I want to ask her to marry me. And I don’t know, maybe it is because I struggle to articulate just how amazing and perfect everything with her feels, and I feel like asking her that is another way to express how all in I am forever? It doesn’t even necessarily mean we’d actually get married with any real speed, but I… just really want to ask. But then I get in my head about whether I should be thinking that,” he explains.

“I think as long as you are getting in your head trying to convince yourself you aren’t ready for it, then maybe you aren’t,” Damien admits, “but I can also see that you’re _so_ close to accepting that it’s fine and you can just go for it. Have you talked to her about it?”

“Yeah, we’ve talked about it a little bit, we’re both – as always – on pretty much the same page. Almost but maybe not _quite_ ready for it to happen yet. I want to surprise her, though, so we’ve kind of agreed to not talk about it too much for the sake of maintaining the surprise, just… I think I’ll know when it’s right, and that might be kind of soon. The publicity thing is just kinda… yeah.”

“Would you go public about being engaged when it actually happened, or would you hold that back for a while?” Damien queries.

“I don’t think we want to actively hold any big developments back anymore, so it’d probably be public immediately, which is part of the reason we’re kinda worried about it. I’m not sure.”

“You got any ideas for how you’re going to do it?” Damien asks, grinning as he moves the topic on slightly, and Shayne shrugs.

“A little, but I think I’m going to keep them to myself until after I do it. I do, however… do you wanna maybe come shopping with me next week so I can at least _start_ looking at rings? And I do mean next week. I think it’s going to take me a while to find the right thing,” Shayne asks, mildly embarrassed, but he’s pleased to see Damien smiling widely in response.

“Absolutely, you going in with any particular ideas about what you’re looking for? Or her ring size, for that matter?” Damien queries.

“I have some ideas. Her hands aren’t huge and she’s not exactly flashy, I don’t want just a single large diamond because I don’t think it’d suit her. As for size – she doesn’t wear rings much, I know her pointer finger size, but not ring finger. But I’m hoping a jeweller will be able to extrapolate from one finger size to another?” He shrugs.

“Yeah, I get the not flashy thing, I can’t imagine her wearing something _super_ big. How’d you get the ring size?” Damien queries.

“Um, so I… keep absentmindedly doing this thing where I rub my thumb across the back of her left hand just below her knuckles, I know it’s the least subtle thing ever but it just kind of happens, and I guess Kari saw me doing it when we were in Utah?” Shayne’s voice rises, in embarrassment as much as anything else, “and next time I checked my phone I had a text from Kari with an explanation of her pointer finger ring size and a bunch of smirking emojis. Kari didn’t say anything out loud before or after, but.”

“No that seems pretty pointed, she was definitely on to you,” Damien laughs lightly. “When do you want to go for the shopping next week? I know we’re back at work, but we’ve got a couple half days. And I think I’ll see if Kimmy wants to go out Monday night, so if we do it after that you can always tell Court that’s why we’re hanging out.”

“I mean, Courtney never questions us wanting to hang out anyway,” Shayne laughs, “but Wednesday, maybe? I think we finish at like 2 on Wednesday.”

“Wednesday it is. You wanna try and beat me for once before your girl gets home?” Damien gestures towards the TV, and Shayne nods, quickly cleaning up their dinner dishes before they move back to the couch.

Courtney arrives home half an hour later, and Shayne has actually beat Damien in _one_ game before she does, although he’s won all the others. She knocks on the door, before letting herself in, and she acknowledges it the second she steps in.

“Hey hey Dames, Hi Shayne, hope I’m not interrupting any secret boys’ stuff?” she greets them, and Damien shrugs.

“Other than your boyfriend being shit at playstation still…” Damien jokes.

“It’s cool babe, how was your evening?” Shayne asks, shifting over so she can sit on the arm of the couch beside him after she puts her bag down in their bedroom.

“Pretty good, pretty chill. I haven’t seen these girls for a while – other than Liv, of course – so it was mostly catching up on what we’re all doing with our lives these days,” Courtney explains, shrugging, “you guys just fight over games the whole time, I’m guessing?”

“Actually…” Damien trails off, glancing over at her, “So I kind of needed to DNM with Shayne because I went on a date the other day.”

“Ooooh, Dames, that’s so cool! Who with?” She asks, enthusiastically, and he laughs.

“Kimmy. Thanks for what you did at the party, she actually asked me out there, we talked for ages and it was nice. Had a nice chill date too, and I’m hoping there will be a second one soon, so yeah. Thank you,” he grins.

“No problem, I’m glad it worked out. For the record – your DNMs with Shayne stay private, as much as we say we tell each other everything, gotta respect that best friend privacy,” she reassures him, and Damien nods.

“I know, but I’m cool with you knowing this stuff too.”

The three of them chat for a little while longer, before Damien makes his exit, leaving them to themselves.


	42. Chapter 38: Rose, Yellow, White

“What’s got into you today, baby?” Courtney laughs when they cut filming late the following Wednesday morning. They’d filmed a big group game of quiplash, and while none of the jokes had been particularly referential to each other, Shayne had spent half the video finding reasons to lean over or against her.

“Nothing, I just feel like hugging you today,” Shayne laughs off her comment, arm wrapping around her shoulder as they slide back into the wider conversation around them, walking back to the office space. He _hates_ lying to her, but as far as she’s concerned, he and Damien are just going to be having a chill hangout after they finish their lunch meeting.

“Not complaining,” she answers him softly, head tilting to the side to press against his shoulder for a moment before they fall back into the rest of their workday.

“You excited?” Damien asks, when they leave the office together in Shayne’s car a few hours later, fifteen minutes after Courtney had already left.

“Yeah, it’s kind of just a big world I don’t really understand at the moment,” he replies, with a shrug, “I’ve done some low-key googling to try and get an idea of what I’m looking for but I still don’t really know.”

“Hopefully going to a _big_ place like this will mean you can get some general info early on, even if you don’t actually end up buying from somewhere like that in the end,” he points out, Shayne nodding.

“Yeah, that’s the plan. There’s a couple of engagement ring focussed places at this mall that I know of, I figure between them I should be able to at least gauge what’s out there style wise which is all I really want at this point.”

“Just so I have an idea, do you have a budget in mind?” Damien presses, and Shayne shakes his head.

“It’s not really… a big factor. Obviously I’m keeping it within reason, but… I’m okay with dropping quite a lot of money on this if it’s the right one, but I’m also okay if the right one isn’t quite so expensive,” he explains, “I think I’ll just look and… not even think about the price question yet.”

The first store they visit is a brand name they both know well – from advertisements, more than anything. The first impression the place gives is darkness: the walls and floor are all black, the lights not particularly bright, and the salespeople standing behind the counters lining the walls are in suits. A middle-aged woman smiles and asks them if they’re looking for anything in particular, although her smile is clearly forced.

“Um, just looking thanks,” Shayne speaks up, quickly, glancing away from her and down to the cabinet of rings in front of him. It’s _overwhelming_ , and they wander around the store for a couple of minutes – constantly trailed by the salesperson, of course – before he gives an invisible signal to Damien and they walk out.

“Well that was… uninviting,” Damien mumbles, when they’re a couple of stores away, and Shayne nods.

“I got absolutely nothing out of that except feeling like I’m underdressed except these are my work clothes and we’re in a goddamn mall,” he mutters, stuffing his hands in his pockets. They get stereotypical LA drinks to relax before they try again with the next one, a suggestion from Chris, although it immediately seems to give off a different vibe.

“Hey guys! How’s your day going?” The sales assistant – another middle-aged woman, although she seems much more genuine – asks. She doesn’t immediately walk over to where they’ve entered, still standing behind one of the counters.

“Hey, good thanks, yours?” Shayne replies quickly, Damien nodding his own greeting.

“Good, good, now- you look a little overwhelmed, is there something I can help you with? It’s totally fine if you don’t know what you’re looking for, that’s what I’m here for,” she continues, as they walk further into the store and pause at the cabinet in front of her.

“Um, I’m kind of- _just_ starting to look for an engagement ring for my girlfriend, but I’m kind of clueless with the whole jewellery thing,” Shayne admits, rocking back on his heels slightly.

“That’s totally understandable, no problem. Coming along as moral support?” she smiles, turning to Damien, and he nods, “great, great. Well, I’m Abby, and there’s a lot of places I could start with showing you, but let’s not overload you too much – what are your names, again?”

They volunteer their names, following as she leads them through the store to another counter down near the back corner.

“Now, this is just one of our engagement ring collections, but I’m showing you this one because it is one of the more varied and gives you an idea of what might be available. Is there any ideas you’ve got about style, colour, anything? Even things you _don’t_ want?” she asks, as they walk. Shayne freezes for a moment, eyes glancing down into the cabinet in front of him, struggling to find a way to process everything.

“Well, I think- not _super_ flashy, no super big stones, right Shayne?” Damien prompts him, and it snaps him out of his daze.

“Yeah, she- it’s not really her style to be super flashy, she doesn’t wear a whole lot of jewellery usually…” he trails off, “I’m pretty out of my depth with what even exists otherwise, though.”

“Well, how about we start by having a closer look at just a few things, and we’ll see if that helps you get anywhere?” she reaches down and unlocks the cabinet, sliding the drawer back and pulling a few rings out onto a tray that seems to appear on the counter out of nowhere, “one of the first things we might look at is colour, for both the band of the ring and the stone. Now we do carry other colours of diamond, and some other stones – although it seems like the last thing you want now is _more_ options – but here, we have this style in rose, yellow and white gold. Even if the style is totally wrong, are you thinking anything about the colour?”

“I know I want white diamond,” Shayne starts, “I’m buying into that traditional thing, I guess, even if I don’t know if I will elsewhere…” he trails off.

“Sure, sure. You’re welcome to pick these up and have a closer look, if you’d like,” she encourages him, and Shayne does just that, picking up the yellow and white gold versions of the ring and twisting them upside down, eyes flicking between the two colours.

“So, how long have you two been friends?” Abby asks conversationally, directed at Damien, and Shayne appreciates the pressure it takes off him.

“A good ten years, at this point, we met at work- still work together now, although at a different place,” Damien explains, Abby nodding.

“Oh that’s lovely, my best friend actually worked here with me for a while, it was really fun,” she smiles, before turning to Shayne, “any thoughts at all on these ones?”

“I know I don’t like this kind of style,” he muses, “which I know wasn’t the point, but- I just, the single diamond… I’m not sure, it feels a little bit too traditional for her?”

“That’s definitely a useful thing to know, so no solitaires – is there anything in particular about it that makes you think that?”

“I think it’s… it sits too tall off the band, maybe? And I kind of want there to be more around the… sides, I guess?” he flips the yellow gold ring over in his hand to demonstrate, “I don’t really know the language here, sorry.”

“Ah, no need to apologise, that’s totally fine – so, a solitaire basically means just a single diamond like this one, but if you don’t like that we can leave that aside, and this is referred to as the shoulders,” she gestures to the area beside the diamond on the rose gold version of the ring, and Shayne nods, paying close attention.

“I don’t think rose is right,” Shayne adds, after a moment, “I’m… I don’t know, Damien?”

“You’re gravitating towards the yellow gold, right?” Damien pushes, and Shayne nods, confirming, “I think that’d be best for her, too.”

“Could I ask your girlfriend’s name, too?” Abby asks, as she moves more rings around in between the cabinet and the tray in front of them.

“Courtney,” Shayne confirms, glancing down as he feels himself involuntarily smile, “Damien knows her quite well, too, we all actually work together.”

“Ah, perfect, it’s good to have some help with this, yeah?” Abby replies, Shayne quickly nodding.

They move into looking at styles, then, Abby explaining the various nuances between different designs she pulls out. They quickly discard the ideas of simple shoulder diamonds on a solitaire, instead gravitating towards styles with something more built up around the shoulders.

“Now these ones are halo designs, they’re often a good style to use if you’re looking for equal sparkle in a smaller diamond, whether that is for cost or style reasons,” Abby explains, pulling out a particular ring and handing it over to Shayne. He moves it around between his fingers for a moment, shifting it to the side to look at the profile.

“Yeah, I… don’t mind this kind of style, I like how the shoulders kind of come up beside the stones there?” he pauses, twisting the ring around a little longer, “although I’m not so sure on the detail under here, too much, I think. Damien?” he turns to his friend, holding out the ring, and Damien takes it from him to twist it around in his own hands.

“I think halo is a good direction to go,” Damien nods, “what do you think of the shape, though, Shayne?”

“Um, shape is definitely wrong,” Shayne confirms, “I vaguely know that cut is a thing to care about with diamonds, this kind of oval-like cut feels a little… traditional, again.”

“Traditional is coming up as a problem in a few ways for you, yeah?” Abby prompts, and Shayne nods, “this particular collection does actually veer quite traditional, even though it’s quite broad, and I think you’re not going to find the right ring in this cabinet. That is called an oval cut, actually, and you’re correct, it is quite a traditional style. We have another collection just over the side here, it is much smaller but focusses on a few different halo styles, would you like to have a look at that?”

“Sure,” Shayne answers, nodding a little more decisively.

“Just let me pack these away again-“ Abby says, carefully, as she quickly moves the rings they had been looking at back into the cabinet in front of them.

“How you feeling now?” Damien asks Shayne, under his breath, as they step back from the counter a little.

“Much better,” Shayne answers, nodding slightly, “how long have we been here?”

“Thirty, but we’ve got time.”

“Cool.”

They spend another ten minutes with two more collections Abby shows them, and although nothing is quite _perfect_ , they get much closer.

“I think we’re in the right place, it’s just… it’s almost like I’m getting this image in my head of what I want and nothing is _quite_ matching up to it exactly right? I’m not really in a rush to buy something, I’m willing to try and find something that feels one hundred percent right,” Shayne admits, Abby nodding.

“Of course, of course. One other thing we do actually offer here is a custom design service, and if nothing is _quite_ hitting where you want it to, that might be an option to consider. Even if you’re not sure about that – if you’d like, we can go into our private consulting room back there, and maybe we can try and translate what you’re thinking into a picture of some sort? It could help find the right ring that already exists, too,” Abby suggests.

“You mind, Damien?” Shayne glances across to him, and Damien shakes his head.

“No, that sounds like a good idea.”

Abby motions to one of her coworkers to pack away the rings they have sitting out, before guiding Shayne and Damien to follow her just behind the back counter to a screened-off room, hidden behind one of their display cabinets. Damien and Shayne take the two seats on one side of the small desk, Abby quickly bringing in a tray of other items and setting it on the desk as she sits down opposite them.

“Now, we have computer aided design software which can help create a coloured 3D image of a ring, but I thought first, we have a look at some basic sketches?” she suggests, pulling out paper stamped with the store’s logo and a couple of pencils. “Do you think you’d like to describe what you’re thinking, and I’ll have a go at sketching it out, and we can refine from there?”

“Sure, so I think it’s…” Shayne starts, leaning forward as he tries to translate the picture in his mind into words. All three of them talk through it as Abby starts drawing rough shapes on the paper in front of them. It’s not right, initially, but they refine for a few more minutes and it starts to get close.

“Now, I don’t think I have this _exact_ ring out in the store to show you, although it feels like a mix of some of the ones we’ve had a look at?” Abby suggests, Damien and Shayne both nodding in response, “I can definitely translate this through into our CAD program, but it might take a little while.”

“We should probably get going soon, Shayne, it’s been a while,” Damien muses, and Shayne nods.

“Yeah, we should. Is there – can I get a copy or a photo of that sketch just so I can keep thinking on it?” Shayne asks, and Abby nods.

“Absolutely, I can grab a photocopy of it for you in a second. Would you like me to do the CAD design? Absolutely no obligation whatsoever, it’s just so you can get a better look at it, and you can come back whenever suits you to see it,” she smiles, and Shayne nods.

“Yeah, that would be good – thanks so much for your help, I think I’m a bit less lost now,” Shayne laughs lightly.

“No problem, that’s what I’m here for. I’ll grab you my card as well,” she reaches over to a stack of business cards against the wall, handing one over to Shayne, “now, any of our assistants here would be able to help you next time, but if you’d like to speak to me again, I’m usually here every day except Tuesdays and Sundays.”

“Okay, thank you,” Shayne responds, nodding.

“Further than you thought you’d get today?” Damien asks quietly, when Abby steps out of the room to get the photocopy, and Shayne nods.

“Yeah, but it’s been good.”

“I almost feel bad walking out without spending anything having been in there for…” Damien pauses, pulling out his phone once they’re back out in the mall and walking towards Shayne’s car, “over an hour.”

“Same, but I guess that’s how it works with this stuff?” Shayne shrugs, “but yeah, part of me was like, fuck, we’re spending so much time here, am I going to buy something?”

“You don’t want to actually buy yet?” Damien pushes, and Shayne sighs in contemplation.

“When we walked in today, absolutely no, I was fixed on it just being preliminary looking. But after all that… if I’d found the right one, I think I would’ve bought it,” he admits, “I think it’s kind of clicked in my mind that… yeah. I’m ready. I want to do this.”

“That’s awesome, Shayne,” Damien replies, nodding, before their conversation shifts casual as they leave the mall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Putting this at the end to avoid spoiling the chapter, but yes, I work in fine jewellery, that's why this chapter is like that.


	43. Chapter 39: Blessing

“Hey Roger,” Shayne greets Courtney’s Dad pleasantly when they next visit his house the following weekend.

“Shayne! What on earth was with that game last night?” Roger replies, and they launch into one of their usual discussions. Truthfully, Shayne hadn’t watched it, he’d been too preoccupied with Courtney, but he’d seen a highlights clip and read a run-down of the drama early morning before she woke up.

“Was actually wondering if I could… ask you something,” Shayne redirects the conversation, a few minutes later, quickly glancing around to see they are alone on the back patio, Courtney having been pulled back inside by Kari for some reason or another and the rest of the family further out in the backyard with the two younger kids present.

“Of course, Shayne,” Roger responds, prompting him, and Shayne nods, pausing for a moment to take a deep breath and try and find the confidence he had ten seconds earlier.

“I… okay, truthfully, it’s kind of scary to ask this, but… Courtney and I have been talking about marriage for a while, and it’s become something that isn’t just a far off possibility, it’s something we both want to do in the not-too-distant future. I’ve recently come to the conclusion that I think I’ll ask her… kind of soon, or within a few months, at least, and I’m in the process of finding a ring. But before I do ask her- I wondered whether I would have your blessing to do so?” he asks, finding the certainty in his decision and trying to bring it into his tone.

“Firstly – yes, absolutely you have my blessing. I couldn’t wish for a better person for my daughter to be with. But, secondly – how long have you been together?” Roger replies, and Shayne nods.

“Thank you. We’ve been together eight months. And that… it was the main point of uncertainty for me in deciding I’m ready for this, I won’t lie. I was concerned, and largely concerned about how it looks from a public perspective, if it would seem like we were rushing things. But then- I don’t think that should come into my decision. We might have only been together eight months, but we’re in somewhat of a… different situation, given we didn’t start from zero, as my brother put it when I talked to him about it a month or so ago. Courtney and I know we’re all in and we’re in this for life – and I think it’s what is right for _us_ that matters more than anything,” Shayne explains.

“I think you’re absolutely right,” Roger replies, nodding, “I can see you two are doing this for the right reasons, and I can’t see any problem with it whatsoever. You mentioned your brother, you’ve talked to a few people about this?”

“Yeah, I talked to my Dad and my brother Chris about it when Court and I were up in Seattle in December – Chris has been married for 7 years or so. But yeah, I’ve sought advice because I was concerned about the timing for a while, but yeah,” Shayne shrugs, not sure where else to go.

“That’s good, good. I’ve heard a bit about your family, will have to meet them someday,” Roger muses, and Shayne nods.

“Yeah, absolutely, Courtney and I have been talking about how we can make something with all our family happen,” Shayne answers, nodding, before they are interrupted by Courtney and Kari’s return.

Kari corners him a few hours later in a hallway inside, and he can’t help but laugh at the wide smirk she displays before she even starts talking.

“I don’t mean to be pushy at all, but – you had a chat about something with our Dad out there earlier, right?” Kari asks, and Shayne nods.

“Yeah, I- kinda got his blessing to ask Court to marry me,” Shayne admits, feeling himself blush, “thanks for that text back in Utah, by the way.”

“No problem, happy to help you. Have you got a ring?” she asks, Shayne quickly shaking his head.

“I’m in the process of getting one. I spent over an hour at one place with Damien the other day and ended up with a sketch of an idea that they’re doing up as a computer design, potentially to go for a custom thing?” he shrugs, “I actually… is there any chance you’re free Wednesday afternoon?”

“Yeah, absolutely, especially if you’re asking for me to come with you to look at this design,” Kari answers, and Shayne nods.

“Yeah – I’ll text you the details, I think I know what I’m doing but I know you’re important to her and… I really want it to be perfect,” he admits, Kari nodding.

“Of course. Let me know, and I’ll be there.”

————————————————

“Shayne, lovely to see you again! Who’s with you this time?” Abby greets him enthusiastically about ten seconds after he steps into the same jewellery store the following Wednesday, slightly later in the afternoon, as they’d had a slightly later shoot.

“Hey, I’m Kari, Courtney’s sister,” Kari introduces herself before Shayne gets a chance.

“Awesome, I’m Abby, I helped Shayne out with starting this search last week – is there anything you’d like to look at in the store, or would you like to go straight through to looking at our design?” Abby asks.

“I actually – can we have a look at a couple of those halo rings?” Shayne asks, and Abby nods, leading them over to the cabinet with the collection they’d looked at the previous week. Shayne points out a few designs, Abby staying quieter as she pulls them out and sets them on a tray in front of them.

“None of these are right,” Shayne says, mostly to Kari, “but… it’s something in this vague direction, I think?”

“These are gorgeous,” Kari answers, immediately reaching for one in particular and turning it over in her hands, “I’m not much of a fancy jewellery person myself, but yeah, I think you’re going the right direction, Shayne.”

They move into the private design suite a minute later, and Abby quickly pulls the design up on the large separate computer monitor, moving it around with her mouse to show the top and side profiles.

“Now, as well as this, I had a look through some of our broader ranges and found a couple more actual rings we had in our other stores to show you, they’re not _quite_ the same as this one, a lot of them have a flatter, wider top profile, but I just thought I’d give you some more to think about?” Abby suggests, reaching for another couple of rings from a shelf under the desk. Shayne passes one off to Kari, examining the other himself.

“I see what you mean about the top profile,” Kari muses, glancing between the screen and the ring she’s holding, “it’s kind of… where these are flat, the centre stone in that is kind of stepped up?”

“I can tell you have an opinion, Kari, you can tell me,” Shayne laughs, and she grins.

“I like the stepped up effect,” she admits, and Shayne nods.

“Yeah, I think I do too – I think there’s a couple things I want to change a little in that design again, but I still prefer it to these,” he admits, pushing the rings back over to Abby.

“Absolutely, and the stepped up design is something that gives a nice effect – it will make the centre stone more prominent, make it look larger, and it allows you to have a larger stone on a smaller size. I did forget to ask last time – do you have a finger size?”

“Not exactly her ring finger, but I know her pointer finger is an M,” Shayne answers, nodding.

“That’s fine, we can work from that – usually the ring finger is maybe one to one and a half sizes smaller,” Abby explains, “and if it doesn’t fit perfectly, that’s fine, we can absolutely do a small resize after purchase – free of charge for an engagement ring, actually. Now, did you want to have a look at some changes to this design?”

They spend almost ten minutes giving small adjustments – changing the arrangement of claws, changing the angle of the shoulders and the detail underneath the setting – until Shayne finds himself nodding, eyes flicking across the screen.

“I think… that’s what I want,” he admits, after a moment, eyes flicking uncertainly over to Kari.

“I think that looks amazing, Shayne,” she reassures him, and he nods.

“I guess if that’s- what’s next?” Shayne turns back to Abby.

“Now, I’m almost certain this design would have to be a custom made, so the next step would be arranging a quote, which I have already done some of the base work on, although with our adjustments today and until we selected exactly which stones to use, it would be a suggested range only – still no obligation, of course,” she explains, Shayne nodding. “Now, we haven’t discussed budget yet for a reason – we can make this design happen at almost any price bracket, by changing things like the stones, the overall total diamond weight, or the level of detail in the setting.”

“My budget is kind of… undefined, anyway,” Shayne admits, glancing over at Kari, “Kari, think you could step out for a bit?”

“Sure, Shayne,” she answers, “I actually need to grab something from another store, you cool if I meet you back here in a little while?”

“Yeah, sure,” he replies, Abby and Kari saying quick goodbyes as she heads out.

“Now to talk price ranges, we really need to talk diamonds,” Abby starts, pulling a tray out in front of her, “and it’s totally okay if you don’t really know what you’re looking for here.”

“I don’t,” Shayne admits, “but I’m not trying to do this for minimum cost possible or anything. I have a little… room to move.”

“That’s absolutely fine – now, have you heard of the idea of cut, clarity and colour?” she asks, and he nods.

“Vaguely, although I’m not entirely sure what they actually entail.”

“Now, we have decided on the broad cut already, but within cut, there are a few different techniques that our suppliers use to generate different levels of sparkle. Colour is a little bit more simple – it’s basically how white the stone is,” she explains, pulling open a tray beside her and flipping off the black cloth covering it. There are small diamonds in small divots all across the tray, and Shayne has to fight himself not to go wide-eyed. “Now, here, these are all the same cut style and they’re all a princess cut like in your ring, but they range from a yellower, lower clarity up here, through to our brightest options over here”

She gestures across the tray, and Shayne follows her motion with his eyes.

“I’m definitely… what kind of stone do you use as standard in your rings in the store?” he changes the direction of his question, after a moment, and she nods.

“We usually sit around this area,” she gestures a bit over three quarters of the way across the tray, “as you can see, the visual difference is much less pronounced above this level, and there are much larger price jumps due to availability issues.”

“That makes sense,” he responds, nodding, his own eyes ranging from where she’s indicating and up.

“I also want to show you this tray –“ Abby starts, pulling another smaller box out onto the table in front of them and flipping it open, “these are a patented cut collection, and they are also fully certified.”

“Can you explain certification?” he asks, quickly, and she nods.

“So – we don’t hide from the fact that diamonds have got a bad reputation for a while, due to the popularisation of issues around poor mining conditions and diamonds which funded conflict,” Abby explains, “a major way the worldwide diamond industry dealt with this was through instigation of the Kimberly Process and the idea of certification. The Kimberly Process is basically a way where individual diamonds are tracked from mine through to consumer, so at every point the ethicality of their production can be confirmed. A certified diamond will have absolutely followed this process, and they are usually laser-inscribed – too small to actually see with the eye – to guarantee their source.”

“That sounds- Courtney would be into that, I think, I mean, I am too, I am a little… cautious of the whole blood diamond thing,” he admits, and Abby nods.

“Our brand policy is to never deal in conflict diamonds in any regard. We work with a wide range of diamond suppliers, often directly with mines in places such as Canada, Australia and India. We cannot absolutely guarantee that none of our diamonds have slipped through the process somehow, but we use our best efforts possible to avoid that. For smaller stones like your halo stones, it often isn’t possible to get a certified stone, however they can still be within this process. For custom designs in particular, as we can individually pick each exact stone, it’s especially true.”

“That’s… nice, yeah. I think I might like to look at maybe a certified diamond for the centre stone at least?” Shayne suggests, “I may be moved by price, but I think initially looking, I’m kinda wanting to go… around the top of the standard range you mentioned.”

“Absolutely, and the quote I was working on did look at that kind of range,” Abby confirms, reaching over towards the laptop off to the side and pulling out a calculator and a couple of papers filled with technical notes he doesn’t try to interpret. “If you do go ahead, we’ll source the stones, and if you’d like, we can get them here and have you inspect them in person before we set them, although this will add a few weeks to the timeline. Now, keep in mind that this is still a vague suggestion as it will depend on stone sourcing and the like, but with this ring we are looking at… approximately in the vicinity of $10,000.”

“I can do that,” Shayne replies, nodding, “I… would be interested in continuing to work with you on this. What length of time would I be looking at, if I did want to look at the stones?”

“Right at the moment there is a couple of weeks delay on our usual process as much of our industry shuts down throughout January – however, we could have the stones here by mid-February, and the ring should be ready by mid-March,” Abby explains, Shayne nodding. “Also – I believe Kari is back, would you like to bring her back in here?” Abby adds, gesturing to the small security camera monitor beside her.

“Um, yeah, she can come in, just – no more cost talk?” Shayne confirms.

“Sure. I won’t need to take any payment at this stage, but after you’ve inspected the stones I will need to take a deposit,” Abby tells him, Shayne merely nodding in confirmation as she quickly steps out to invite Kari back in. They only stay for a little while longer, but Shayne gets Abby to quickly explain the certification thing again, because he knows it’s a thing that Kari (and Courtney) would like.

“I’m doing it, in case that wasn’t clear,” Shayne tells Kari when they finally step out of the store, “thanks for coming with me today, Kari. I know we got off to a rough start but – I really value your opinion on this, I know you and Court are close for a reason.”

“Thanks for asking me, Shayne. I really regret how hard I went on you first up. I’m so impressed with how you handle everything, you clearly care so deeply for her and I know she does for you too. Even though it’s not _quite_ official yet, you’re kind of my favourite future brother-in-law,” she jokes, and Shayne smiles.

“Thanks, Kari.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the subtle diamond politics but for real the stuff you see on most of the internet about diamonds is decades out of date. Also, I just chucked a random price in there, it has no real basis in anything.


	44. Chapter 40: Kids on Camera

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to double check what day it is because the week before christmas is wild, but it is indeed Wednesday morning my time so update time! Also, fluff-central for a few chapters and I quite like this section tbh

Chris, Julie and the kids arrive in California mid-morning on the following Monday, staying at Shayne’s parents house in Thousand Oaks. Courtney and Shayne request the Tuesday and Wednesday off, and they get it, except they have to work Tuesday morning to get a shoot done first.

“You know, Burbank is closer to Disney than Thousand Oaks, we can meet you at the office?” Chris suggests, on a phone call a couple of days beforehand.

“You sure, guys? That’d be ideal, we’ll give you the directions,” Shayne answers, and it is arranged.

They end up having a second video thrown into their schedule in their early morning meeting, and Shayne meets Courtney’s eyes across the table when it’s discussed.

“We know you’ve gotta go have your family time, we will try our best to be done by 11,” Sarah reassures them, clearly seeing their look.

“Okay, okay,” Shayne answers, relaxing back into his chair.

Their first shoot is a quick Pit sketch just screwing around with some tiktok challenges in the studio, and it’s fine – they finish it right on time. The next, though, is another Family Style shoot, with Damien, Ian, Sarah, Courtney, Shayne and Tommy playing a silly two-player indie fighting game. The punishments aren’t too intense, for once, and they’re glad – the last thing they want is to have to rapidly clean up before their family turn up.

“Oh my god how long does this take,” Shayne complains loudly, for the show of the camera, although everyone in the room knows he’s being serious as the shoot drags on. Courtney is fighting increasingly hard not to look worried, although she knows from the clock on the bottom of one of the monitors opposite them that it is five minutes past when they were meant to meet their family outside their office.

“I’m sorry but our family were meant to be here seven minutes ago I need to shoot them a text,” Shayne calls out, in the quiet space after Courtney endures her mild punishment – a mystery top hat that ends up being filled with confetti just large enough it shouldn’t stick in her hair too much -, typing away at his phone to let Chris know they’re stuck in a shoot.

“Are they outside? I can go let them into the building at least, it’s Chris and Julie right?” Garret calls from behind the cameras.

“Yeah, could you?” Shayne replies, adding to his text. Garret nods, quickly slipping out of the room before they finally move onto their second-last match. It’s another long one, to their annoyance, Damien and Ian battling it out for a full three minutes. It is at the end of their match that Garret reappears, glancing around the room, before he steps inside and holds the door open; Julie, Chris and the children walking in quietly behind him.

Nathan looks beyond excited, pointing at Shayne and silently bouncing on his toes, evidently having been told he had to be quiet because they were working. Rosie, for her part, is in her mother’s arms, wide eyes roaming around the room until she peers between the TV and one of their cameras and sees Courtney, waving at her shyly in response. Courtney can’t help but glance away from the cameras and smile warmly back at Rosie.

“Hey, so can we acknowledge that Shayne and Courtney just went like that because Shayne’s brother and his family just walked in, kids included?” Ian points out, half-teasing and half-asking if he can indeed acknowledge their presence. Courtney laughs, glancing over to Shayne to see him shrug, although he is smiling warmly. Rosie, for her part, is now reaching out trying to get away from her mother, and it makes half the crew on set laugh too. Chris gives a thumbs up from behind the camera, signalling it’s okay to acknowledge their presence.

“I’m sorry, guys, but they are very cute kids,” Courtney admits.

“Hey Ian, there’s children in the room, you have to be appropriate,” Sarah points out a moment later, moving the video on, as Ian rolls his eyes and delves into his own punishment, a top hat full of cereal (and milk).

Shayne and Damien are battling for the final competition, as is often the case, and Courtney sits in the chair beside the couch, leaning over against the arm of the couch beside Shayne as they compete, her gaze frequently shifting across to their family waiting behind. Julie steps back from the camera with Rosie about thirty seconds into the competition, speaking quietly to Garret, before moving over to whisper something to Chris, too. Garret grabs Sarah’s attention in response, mouthing something that Courtney interprets roughly as “kids on camera”. Sure enough, Sarah nods, and thirty seconds later Julie leans down and sets Rosie down just beside the camera closest to Courtney, while Chris leans down and whispers something in Nathan’s ear.

Both kids rush onto the set with clear intent, Courtney – and the others, for that matter – laughing in response when Shayne’s concentration immediately falls, Damien also snapping out of his game mode for a moment as Nathan rushes right into the centre of the couch – and their main camera angle –, while Rosie toddles towards Courtney.

“Hey Rosie,” she tells her enthusiastically, leaning down to scoop her up to sit in her lap as she gets close, and Rosie babbles her name excitedly in response, Tommy and Sarah immediately shifting over to greet Rosie, too. Courtney keeps it in her mind that they are on camera, but she can’t exactly deny this kid, especially when she immediately snuggles up against her.

“Uncle Shayne, he’s beating you!” Nathan calls out, twisting around and placing himself in the middle of the couch as the actual game continues, between Damien and Shayne. It causes all of them to laugh, and Damien to grin.

“That’s my best friend Damien, he usually beats me,” Shayne admits.

“Now I feel bad,” Damien responds, and Nathan looks confused for a moment before he stretches up and whispers something to Damien, thankfully, _just_ near his mic.

“I think Uncle Shayne is just bad at video games,” Nathan mumbles, and Shayne grins in response, clearly having heard him, although he pretends he hasn’t.

Damien wins a minute later, predictably, Nathan cheering along with Ian and Tommy when he does.

“Sorry Uncle Shayne but he played better,” he turns to Shayne, and Shayne laughs.

“You guys kinda distracted me, you know,” he responds, and Nathan shrugs, his movements exacerbated for all the attention on him.

“Hey Shayne, you still gotta pull out a punishment card,” Ian calls out from behind him.

“Yeah, Sarah, what is the last punishment? Because like…” Tommy trails off, pointing between Nathan still sitting between Shayne and Damien and Rosie sitting contentedly in Courtney’s lap.

“It’s good,” Sarah nods, and Shayne reaches into the hat held out to him, pulling out the card.

“Oh, everyone roasts me for a minute – Nathan, you got a head start there, hey?” he turns back to his nephew, who clearly doesn’t understand the full statement, but he nods excitedly at the attention anyway.

“Hey Shayne your shirt is as unnecessarily loud as your screaming,” Courtney calls out, to start off the roast, before letting everyone else take the rest of the minute as she leans down to whisper conspiratorially to Rosie.

“That’s a minute, you can stop!” Shayne calls, just under a minute later, before Garret signals from behind the camera for him to do the end card. “That was… whatever this is, featuring bonus nephew and niece-“

He’s interrupted when Courtney shifts even closer to him and Rosie reaches out to poke him in the bicep, Courtney following with her own jab.

“Ha!” Rosie calls out.

“Oh no! Not both of you!” Shayne overstates his response – for Rosie, as much as for the camera, - before pushing through the rest of the ending as he fakes fighting the two girls to his right off his arm, although truthfully, he leans closer to give Rosie an easier job in reaching him.

“Cut!” Garret calls, after a minute, and they all relax out of their on-camera personas.

“Heyyy Rosie, Hey Nathan, you came to see us at work did you?” Shayne greets them both enthusiastically, “you want to meet some of our friends we work with?”

“Yes!” Nathan calls out excitedly, glancing back around as Damien, Ian, Sarah, Tommy – and Chris and Julie – shift into the area in front of the TV. Rosie, for her part, gives a shy wave to everyone before curling back against Courtney, while Nathan excitedly greets everyone, repeating their names back at them as if trying to commit them to memory.

“Can I touch hair?” Rosie speaks, when Damien shifts over in front of Courtney to greet Chris and Julie – he had met them both before, although hadn’t seen Julie for a while -, grabbing towards the blue on top of his head.

“If you’d like to,” Damien responds, leaning down as she reaches out and runs her fingers through his hair.

“Dad said I’d be on one of your internet videos if I came out here,” Nathan tells Shayne, nodding matter-of-factly, still sitting happily beside Shayne on the couch.

“Yeah, you will, Nath,” Shayne replies, “sorry Courtney and I couldn’t come meet you like we were meant to, we had to finish our work first.”

“That’s okay, work is important,” Nathan replies with a firm nod. Some of the crew start to leave the room and pack up, and Ian and Tommy duck off back to their jobs, but Sarah and Damien stay in the studio a moment longer chatting with Chris and Julie, plus the kids.

“Do you like Mario?” Nathan asks Damien, out of the blue, a minute later.

“Mario is pretty cool, do you like Mario?” Damien turns the question back on him, and Nathan nods.

“I like Mario Party – just the minigames though – and my friend Jason has it so I play it at his house sometimes but Mum won’t let me get a Switch until I’m 8,” Nathan explains.

“Mario Party minigames are super fun,” Damien responds, not thinking it’s worth pointing out the multiple switch consoles sitting on the stand below the TV immediately across from them.


	45. Chapter 41: Pitch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It is Christmas Day where I am, so Merry Christmas those who celebrate and have an update as a gift. It was going to happen anyway so it isn't much of a gift, but it is slightly longer than usual... and I'm considering messing with my update schedule to post a bit more often for a little while, if people are up for that?

“We’re really sorry we were delayed, they threw an extra shoot on us last minute,” Courtney tells Chris and Julie when they finally step outside a few minutes later, kids bounding along behind them now they’ve realised their next stop is Disneyland.

“All good, it was interesting to actually see your office,” Chris responds with a shrug, “and the kids got a kick out of it.”

“Yeah, you guys evidently cool with them ending up in one of our videos?” Shayne raises an eyebrow.

“It’s good content though, right?” Chris laughs, “it’s fine, I was mostly worried about Nathan picking up on all those consoles you got in that studio.”

“I think you guys have got more to worry about from that than we or the kids do,” Julie grins, “don’t your shippers jump on everything? Because there was a lot of family stuff in there.”

“They will have a field day with that one, but it’s okay, family stuff is chill,” Courtney answers her as they all pile into the oversized SUV they had rented for their holiday, Shayne sitting into the drivers’ seat.

“Thank for driving Shayne, not sure I like all these LA freeways,” Chris admits, when they get going, and Shayne shrugs.

“All good, Court and I are so used to them – not that we’ve been down Disney way for _quite_ a while.”

“Why were there so many switches and playstations and computers in there?” Nathan asks, five minutes into their drive, from his spot in the middle section of the car, beside Courtney.

“Well, sometimes our videos – like that one we were filming then – are about us and our friends playing lots of different games together, so we need to have lots so everyone can play at the same time,” Shayne explains, glancing over to see Chris nodding.

“Your job sounds _really_ cool,” Nathan emphasises, “do you have Mario Party? Do you think Damien would want to play with you and me Uncle Shayne?”

Courtney raises an eyebrow in response, Julie and Chris both laughing loudly.

“Um, maybe, I’ll have to ask Damien,” Shayne answers, trying to brush off the question.

“Conteeeeeent,” Chris murmurs under his breath, loud enough for both Courtney and Shayne to pick up, although not Nathan.

“Are you volunteering up your kid for views?” Shayne jokes back, quietly, as Courtney and Julie pull the kids into a conversation about what they want to do at Disney to distract them.

“Don’t tell me it didn’t slightly cross your mind that his suggestion was actually quite good and all your producers would be super on board with it,” Chris laughs lightly, and Shayne shrugs.

“I mean, yeah, but it is the internet and all and I mean, if he _really_ wants to play some stuff, we could literally just hang out in there for a bit and not film it,” Shayne replies, “or he can hang out at our place, we’ve ended up with way too many consoles and games.”

“I mean, that too, but- Julie and I don’t have an issue with them existing a tiny bit in Smosh world, we know you guys aren’t going to do anything that isn’t totally fine,” Chris replies, Shayne nodding.

“Hey, Nathan,” Shayne grabs his attention when they’re waiting in line for tickets in front of Disneyland 45 minutes later, Chris standing in front of them, the three girls waiting in the expansive courtyard. “Why did you want to play Mario Party with me and Damien?”

“Well Damien said it was fun, and you said he was your best friend, and it’s a good friend game,” Nathan answers, nodding, “and I wanna be in more of your internet videos, they’re fun.”

“You know lots of people we don’t even know see those videos, how do you feel about that?” Shayne asks him carefully.

“I know,” Nathan replies, “Jason’s big sister showed us a video you were in where you drew Disney characters! Aunty Courtney was the best drawer” Shayne rapidly glances up to Chris, who looks as surprised as he is.

“Did you tell Jason and his sister that you know us?” Shayne asked him, carefully, and Nathan shook his head.

“Nah, we just watched a little bit then we went back to Mario Party because Jason’s sister is annoying and I forgot,” he replies, shrugging.

“You know you’re meant to tell me or Mummy if you watch something at a friends’ house, right Nath?” Chris steps in.

“I know Daddy but because it was about Disney characters and it was Uncle Shayne and Aunty Courtney I thought it was okay so I didn’t,” he explains, Chris nodding in response.

“Sometimes the videos Aunty Courtney and I are in aren’t meant for six year olds, you should definitely still tell your Mum and Dad about them even if you see us in them,” Shayne tells him, quickly, and Nathan tilts his head for a moment before nodding.

“Okay, sorry Daddy. I still want to be in another video but, and it can be meant for six year olds, right?” Nathan turns back to Shayne as he finishes, Shayne quickly glancing back over to Chris for help, who simply nods.

“Well, if you’re _totally_ sure, then I can ask my bosses if we could do that,” Shayne tells him, and Nathan cheers in response, jumping up and down a couple of times.

“Yes! I’m sure!” he grins, and it gives Shayne an idea.

“You know, when we have ideas for a video, we do this thing called a pitch, where we tell everyone else what the video would be about. Do you think you could do one of those? Could I take a video of you saying what video you want to do and send it to the people from work?” Shayne asks, not surprised when Chris laughs and Nathan immediately nods.

“Can we do it now?”

“Okay,” Shayne pulls out his phone, flipping open the camera. The line moves ever so slightly and they step forward into the space created, before Shayne crouches down near Nathan to get a better angle on the camera. “I’ll hit record, you say what your idea is, yeah?” he confirms, Nathan nodding, and Shayne hits record.

“I had a video idea!” Nathan exclaims, “the video would be Uncle Shayne, and Damien, and me playing mario party mini games, because Uncle Shayne said you play games sometime and Mario Party is fun! And I know some of your videos are not for six year olds but because I’m six then this one could be for _lots_ of people even six year olds, and people as old as Uncle Shayne.”

“Thanks, Nathan,” Shayne can’t help but laugh when he finishes, stopping the recording. The line moves again, then, and Nathan bounds over to his Dad as Shayne pulls out his phone and opens Slack, navigating straight to their pitch and planning channel.

“This is a real pitch, approved by parent, uncle and kid,” Shayne types, attaching the video and hitting send, “they’re in LA until Sunday.” He adds a second message before closing out of the app and shoving the phone back in his pocket.

————————————————

They buy two-day park hopper passes for each of them, before heading into Disneyland proper just on lunchtime. It’s busy but being January – and during the school term – not quite as hectic as it could be. It’s hard to convince the kids they need to have lunch before they go anywhere else, but they manage, Courtney and Shayne leading them to one of the Main Street cafes.

They had pre-planned their day the slightest, but they have a couple hours free before they head to an Ariel princess meeting – one of Rosie’s favourites – so they head to the little kids’ section of the park, letting the kids get out some of their energy choosing where they want to go first.

“You had any more developments on the thing you talked to Dad and I about in December?” Chris asks, both having stepped back and let Courtney and Julie take the kids on the teacups so they didn’t have to deal with the spinning themselves, copping plenty of teasing from both their partners in response.

“Yeah,” Shayne admits, “I’ve asked her Dad, and I’m in the process of getting a ring. I’m actually – I went looking for one, couldn’t find exactly what I wanted, got put onto the idea of a custom design. Waiting on that process to start at the moment. Her sister Kari actually was with me when I gave them the go ahead to start that.”

“Wow, you have made progress. You seem pretty comfortable with that?” he pushes, and Shayne nods.

“Yeah. I won’t have the ring until mid-March probably and I don’t know when I’ll actually ask but… yeah. I know we’re ready for it.”

“I can tell. You guys make a good team,” Chris nods, and Shayne simply smiles in thanks, pulling out his phone to take a photo of their family the next time their teacup spins around close to them.

Being January, the sun sets early, and it allows them to catch the electric light parade in Main Street in the late evening. The kids aww and dance along to the music, and the adults sit back against the curb, watching them carefully. They head into Downtown Disney for dinner, afterwards – along with a _lot_ of other people. Rosie has taken to cuddling against her mother’s shoulder again, while Nathan walks peacefully beside Shayne, holding his hand for “safety” (although they weren’t near any roads, and neither Chris nor Julie had told him he had to, just that he wasn’t allowed to run off).

“Can we go to the Rainforest place?” Nathan asks, carefully, and the adults let his pick guide them over to the overly-decorated area. The ambiance manages to get the kids’ energy levels up, though, and it’s enough to push them through dinner without any grumpiness or falling asleep, their conversation swaying wildly between what they’ve already done today and what they _want_ to do when they return for the full day the next day.

“How’d Nathan’s pitch go over?” Chris asks, with half a laugh, when they’re all back in the car driving back towards LA-proper. The kids, predictably, had fallen asleep almost the second they all got back into the car.

“Wait, Nathan pitched something?” Courtney asks, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah,” Shayne replies, glancing over to Chris to let him explain.

“Turns out he was serious with his thing in the car about wanting to play Mario with Damien and Shayne – he talked about it again when we were in line for tickets, and he let slip that he saw a tiny bit of a Smosh video at Jason’s place, older sister showed them,” Chris explains, “and he now has the message that _even if_ Shayne and Courtney are in a video he has to still tell us what it is – thanks for getting that through to him, Shayne – but he was also totally certain he wanted to be in another video. And I mean, you can nix it if you want Julie, but I think it’s fine. So Shayne videoed him doing a little pitch.”

“That’s adorable,” Julie shakes her head, “I don’t mind either, I want to see this video though.”

“I did actually send it through to one of our work Slack channels as a serious pitch – I haven’t looked since I sent it, Court, it’s on pitch and planning if you want to check,” Shayne explains, Courtney reaching to pull her phone out of her pocket.

“Send us the video to watch later, guys? Hearing his own voice might wake him up,” Julie gestures towards Nathan, “interested to hear what the reaction is, though.”

“A lot of laughing emojis,” Courtney grins as she scrolls up to Shayne’s message and reads back down from there, “an ‘is this serious because that would actually get views’ from Ian, a yes from Damien to being part of the video, and the producers are all on board.”

“I specifically wrote that it was serious,” Shayne shakes his head, “Does Ian even read?”

“Nope,” Courtney replies, “Sarah checked the schedule and floated doing it Thursday morning, push back that other sketch we gotta do Shayne- if this is going to actually happen.”

“Thursday morning would work for us,” Chris replies, “what’s this other sketch, out of interest?”

“Ugh, it’s an influencer one – Bryce Chryson and Brianna Boho,” Shayne replies, “I dunno if you’ve seen any of them, I hope you haven’t honestly, they’re intentionally played up caricatures of Instagram influencer types, not the smartest, wildly inappropriate most of the time.”

“This is an extra silly one too, there’s not even really a cohesive plot, it’s just the two of them throwing stuff at each other – metaphorically, Brianna Boho would never actually throw anything, it’d ruin her nails – for a while. They’re also like…” Courtney trails off, tilting her head side to side.

“We’ve played Bryce and Brianna for a while, there is a whole lot of innuendo between the characters which is extra weird for us now. We haven’t actually filmed them together since before we went public,” Shayne continues the rest of Courtney’s statement.

“Oh, wow, that sounds… fun?” Julie laughs, “I seriously don’t understand how you guys manage to do all these ridiculous characters, I couldn’t keep it together if I tried.”

“I don’t mind doing Brianna honestly, she’s such an exaggerated character it’s pretty easy. Just throw every Instagram model stereotype you can think of in, and there she is. Gotta put _very_ sharp fake nails on for her, though, so if Nathan is going to be at the office for a little bit it would definitely be better if it was before that,” Courtney shrugs.

“Yeah, let’s keep kid Smosh _far_ away from those characters,” Shayne shakes his head, “it will absolutely be kid-safe and nothing weird at all if Nathan does come in for a bit, though. You guys can all come and watch, if you want, or whatever.”

“Maybe Rosie and I can stay out at Debbie and Rob’s place and you can bring Nathan in to Burbank, Chris?” Julie suggests.

“Yeah, that works- just let us know when by the end of tomorrow and Nath and I will be there Thursday morning, guys. And thanks for being so careful about the kids, but it really is fine,” Chris responds, and Shayne and Courtney nod.


	46. Chapter 42: Disney

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is part bonus update a day early, but part "I can't update tomorrow anyway because I won't have computer access". Enjoy.

“Not to say I’m not excited about today, but I could do without the early ass alarm,” Courtney mumbles the next morning, when their alarm goes off before 7am. They were planning a _long_ day at Disney to get in everything the kids wanted to see, and they were meeting the others at the park before it opened at 9am.

“Urgh,” Shayne mumbles in non-response, twisting around from where he was curled in front of her – so what, he liked being the little spoon sometimes – to face Courtney, face pressing into the pillow beside her neck.

She laughs lightly in response, hands running delicate patterns across his back for the five minutes before they relent and actually climb out of bed.

“You think we can convince Nathan on to some of the big kid rides with us? He’s gotta be tall enough for some of them, right?” Shayne asks, as they sit down for their breakfast a little while later, after a joint shower that had absolutely no need to be joint and was definitely just an excuse for them to get a little touchy before they had to be PG all day again.

“You sure you’re tall enough for them?” Courtney teases, Shayne rolling his eyes at her and not responding, “I don’t know, he was pretty cool with everything yesterday, I think he could take a bit more excitement – we _might_ have to put up with some of the kiddie ones, though.”

“Remember that time when we were there for the Disneybound challenge and you flirted your ass off with me on the Little Mermaid ride?” Shayne grins, and Courtney laughs.

“Why yes, I do remember that – oops. Won’t happen this time?” she suggests, innocently.

“I mean, I don’t exactly _mind_ if it does now…” he trails off. Courtney simply shakes her head, although she pushes a firm kiss to his lips as soon as they both stand up to finish getting ready to leave.

“Morning guys!” Chris calls, when they meet up at the front entrance just before park opening time. His greetings are quickly followed by those of the children, having evidently recovered from being tired out the previous day.

At Nathan’s request, their first stop is meeting Moana, and it starts off a hectic schedule of rides – mostly the low key ones, so they can all go – and character meetings. Nathan literally screams in excitement when he sees Mickey, scaring two other young girls standing near them in response. Chris throws an apology their parents’ way in response, but it is quickly brushed off.

“Wonder where he got screaming like _that_ ,” Courtney teases, with a pointed jab to Shayne’s arm.

“Yeah, maybe he has been secretly watching more of your videos?” Julie jokes, “although it didn’t take me many to catch on to the screaming thing, Shayne.”

“I have not screamed in front of Nathan _once_ ,” Shayne defends himself, laughing, before their turn to meet Mickey comes and they all slide into the photo, at the kids’ request.

Courtney and Shayne are recognised a few minutes later as they walk through the park, intending to head over to California Adventure for a few different rides and a particular lunch spot Shayne and Courtney had suggested.

“Oh my god hi can we get a photo?” A group of young teenagers approaches them, one girl stepping forward to speak to them.

“Sure!” Shayne answers, immediately switching into acting mode, although he quickly indicates behind his back for Chris and Julie to move away from them with the kids. They do just that, wandering over to a fountain off a slight side path as Courtney and Shayne pose with the group of teenagers.

“Well, that was a little weird to see for the first time,” Chris admits, when they return to the family.

“Sorry,” Shayne shrugs, “can’t exactly say no.”

“It’s fine, it’s just different,” Chris shrugs, “sometimes we forget you guys are kinda famous.”

“Famous is probably stretching it,” Courtney shakes her head, the conversation quickly coming to a close as they continue to move out of Disneyland and across to the other park. It takes them a while to move through the park, the kids distracted by seeing their favourite Pixar characters and rides they absolutely _must_ go on immediately, apparently, but eventually they sit down for lunch in the pier area.

“How d’you feel about the big rollercoaster, Shayne?” Chris taunts him, gesturing over towards it as they finish their lunch.

“That one looks scary!” Nathan calls out.

“It is scary, that one is for big kids only, you wouldn’t be able to go on that one buddy,” Shayne tells him, in response.

“You think me and uncle Shayne should go on it, Nathan, see what it’s like?” Chris prompts again.

“Yes!” his reply is enthusiastic, and Shayne laughs, glancing over at Courtney and winking when Chris’ attention is distracted.

“I know you were trying to get a rise out of me there, Chris, but you do know I’ve been on this like six times right? Also, so has Courtney, but she’s decided to stay chill with the kids this time?” Shayne jokes, when the two of them get in the line a while later. It’s a short line, for once, and the other four are waiting for them down near the pier.

“Yeah, should’ve remembered that, shouldn’t I? You’ve always been the adventurous one anyway,” he shakes his head, “I think I can handle it, though. Honestly, would’ve challenged Court too, but she definitely gives off the vibe that she can handle a rollercoaster.”

“You suuuuure? You really sure you can?”

“Oh, shut up, asshole.”

————————————————

Chris ends up in genuine fear by the time they get onto the ride, but he’s fine once it starts. Shayne, for his part, let’s out a few of his screams, although not quite to the extent he would under filming circumstances.

“Nice to go on one of those and not be filmed while I’m doing it,” he laughs, as they clamber out at the end of the ride and wander back over to join their family.

“Hey, that’s Mater!” Nathan calls, pointing at the truck out in front of them as they wander through to the Cars-themed section of the park. “Uncle Shayne, in the video I saw you did a _really_ bad job of drawing him!”

“Oh, did I? See, I thought Aunty Courtney said potato, so I drew a potato instead,” he explains, carefully, and Nathan laughs. Courtney, for her part, can’t help but snigger slightly.

“Love that of all the videos Nathan could’ve inadvertently seen, it’s the one where we went public,” she comments to Julie, walking by her side, and Julie grins.

“Hey, at least he’s not old enough to get that context. Would’ve been an interesting one to film, I’m guessing?” she prompts, and Courtney nods.

“It was a really silly video, but yeah, it was both relieving and terrifying.”

“I bet,” Julie agrees, before their conversation is interrupted by another exclamation about spotting a character.

Rosie’s personal breakdown over a Disney character comes in the form of Cinderella, later in the evening when they’ve returned back to the Disneyland park for dinner and – later – the fireworks.

“Mummy it’s Cinderella!” she cries out, tears immediately springing from her eyes, “Mummy I want to meet Cinderella!”

“Hey, hey Rosie, you don’t need to cry darling, we can go and meet her,” Julie comforts her, picking her up into a hug that Rosie rapidly accepts, her cries ceasing but eyes still leaking as they quickly move over to join the line.

“Why is Rosie crying?” Nathan asks, a few minutes later.

“Well, Cinderella is her favourite Disney princess and she’s just excited, buddy,” Chris responds.

“I thought Bluey was her favourite?”

“Bluey isn’t Disney, Nath,” Chris explains, tiredness seeping into his tone for a moment.

“You guys want to sit down and have a bit of a break? Court and I can take them on one of the chill rides, Peter Pan or something? Give you guys a rest,” Shayne offers under his breath, a moment later.

“Yeah, thank you,” Chris responds, gratefully. “You guys have been so much help but this is still… a task. Kinda wish I had your acting skills this evening because I want them to think I’m excited but I just want to sit down.”

“Oh, I know,” Shayne shakes his head, “acted excitement is my specialty. Although, to be fair, I do high key love this place. And your kids.”

Their conversation is interrupted as they reach the front of the line, Rosie and Julie stepping forward to meet Cinderella as the others step off to the side out of the way, Chris taking photos on his phone.

“You sure you don’t want to meet her too, Nathan?” he prompts his son, who hesitates for a moment before rushing over to join his sister and mother for their last few moments with the princess.

“You don’t wanna go too, Chris, get the family photo?” Courtney asks, but he shakes his head.

“Nah, I think we’ve got enough family photos today,” he laughs, “also I’m high key crashing, Shayne volunteered for you guys to take them on Peter Pan or something after this so Julie and I can sit down for a bit and I am really looking forward to that.”

“Of course, of course,” she laughs. They all step away from the character meeting point afterwards, the two kids thankfully taking the suggestion of another ride with Shayne and Courtney with excitement, their parents mouthing grateful thank yous as they sit down on a free bench just near the ride exit to wait. It’s only a ten-minute wait in the line, thankfully, but Courtney almost audibly grumbles in annoyance when about five minutes in she hears a badly-hushed “Smosh” from one of the kids just in front of them in the line.

“Kid over there in green recognised us,” she mumbles, near Shayne’s ear, before crouching down to let Rosie babble at her about fairies, hoping it is enough to scare them off. They don’t approach them, but they continue to glance over at them continuously until they get onto the ride, just before the cut-off, leaving Shayne, Courtney and the kids to go the next time.

The ride is fine, albeit a little boring for the adults, although Rosie mumbles away happily about everything she’s seeing beside Shayne and Nathan just tries to identify all the characters from his spot beside Courtney.

When they step out of the exit, though, the people from before them in line are still hanging around, clearly waiting, and it makes Shayne sigh in annoyance. They hate being rude, but- not when they’ve got the kids by themselves.

“Shayne and Courtney?” one of the family that were waiting for them calls out as they walk past, but Courtney merely glances at them and smiles carefully as they keep walking past, over to where Chris and Julie are waiting. The kids talk enthusiastically to their parents about the ride, while Shayne and Courtney both glance back, wondering whether they should go and apologise – but the people who called out to them have gone.

They find a dinner location within the park, wanting to keep Nathan away from the draw of the Downtown Disney stores – he’d already got enough souvenirs in the park throughout the day, he didn’t need to realise there was a whole Lego store too and they did have to _fly_ back to Seattle – and sit down at an outdoor table.

“I’m tired,” Rosie mumbles, to both Julie and Shayne who she is sitting between, not long after they sit down.

“I know, darling, but we get to stay up late tonight to see fireworks, hey? You think you can do that?” Julie asks. Rosie contemplates for a moment before nodding, features immediately brightening as she reaches for a menu, saying something about “wake up food”.

“Shayne,” Courtney grabs his attention, just after they’ve ordered, and he quickly turns to face her. “That’s the family from earlier, they’re staring again. Just inside.”

“Dammit,” Shayne mutters under his breath in response, accidentally meeting one of the kids’ eyes as he glances over. “I feel bad.”

“Same. Should we…” she trails off.

“Yeah,” he mutters, sighing.

“What’s up?” Chris grabs their attention a moment later, and Shayne shrugs.

“Some people recognised us before but we brushed them off for obvious reasons, they’re now sitting just inside staring at us,” he explains, “we might have to go do the photo thing to get them to stop.”

“Do what you need to,” Chris says, nodding, and they both reluctantly step out of their chairs a moment later and quietly slip further into the restaurant.

“Hey guys, we did see you earlier, we couldn’t stop for a photo or anything because we were looking after some of our family’s kids,” Courtney explains, when they walk up.

“Of course, that is totally fine,” the adult woman at the table responds, with some force.

“Can we get a photo now?” the older of the two kids asks – they think he was the one who called out earlier – and they quickly accept, taking the photo with the two kids on their presumed mother’s phone before slipping back outside.

“Hopefully that’s it for the day,” Shayne tells the table with a somewhat forced smile when they take their seats again, Chris and Julie nodding sympathetically before they let the kids take over the conversation again, seeming to have perked up at the mention of fireworks.

“You ready for the fireworks to make big, loud noises?” Courtney asks Rosie, holding her for a moment as they stand in the spot they’ve staked out ten minutes before the show is due to start.

“I used to be scared but I’m a _big girl_ now and I’m not scared,” Rosie nods, determined, and Courtney smiles.

“Wow, that’s so impressive!”

Rosie goes back to her mother’s arms a few minutes before the fireworks start, Nathan standing in front of his father as Shayne and Courtney stand just slightly behind them. She wraps her arm around his waist under his jacket, pulling it slightly around herself, just as the fireworks start, claiming to be cold.

“Are you actually cold or do you just want to touch me?” Shayne murmurs in response, head twisting to the side so his mouth is close to her ear.

“Both,” she admits, with a returned whisper, and he responds by shrugging his jacket off and handing it to her, arm wrapping around her shoulders and holding her close beside him after she puts it on. He presses a kiss to her cheek a minute later, and she glances over at him and smiles softly before leaning over to rest her head against his shoulder. They barely separate when the fireworks finish and they all start walking out of the park with the crowds of people.

“Well, Nath and I will see you at 10 tomorrow,” Chris nods when they say their goodbyes, just before they split off to head to their own cars.

“And Rosie and I will see you Saturday?” Julie continues.

“Looking forward to it,” Courtney replies, smiling softly, Shayne nodding in response before they head in their different directions.

“Love you,” Shayne tells her, once they are comfortably alone inside his car, and she nods, head twisting around to watch him drive.

“Love you too.”


	47. Chapter 43: Best Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Keeping up my slightly off posting schedule for the rest of this week so you'll end up with 4 chapters in a week instead of 3, but why not, this week is weird anyway!
> 
> Also, slightly playing up the fact that Sarah occasionally has kindergarten teacher vibes (in the best way possible) and pulling that into character-Sarah too.

“Morning all,” Ian starts their meeting the following day, slightly earlier than usual. They don’t have a whole heap to cover, it’s just a bit of a planning update on a few upcoming projects, and Garret carries most of it.

“Now – today’s schedule?” Sarah jumps in, a few minutes later, a few of the writers taking the cue to leave and return to their desks. “We weren’t entirely sure whether to take the Damien & Shayne show plus child pitch seriously but Shayne said it was, so – that’s scheduled up first, yes?”

“Yeah, Chris is bringing Nathan in here at 10 as agreed,” Shayne answers, “it _should_ be a pretty chill shoot, I think Damien and I can just play off wherever Nathan goes – just need everyone to stay kid-friendly when he’s even remotely in earshot, please?”

“We’re used to doing it when Rhett and Link’s kids are around, all good,” Tim speaks up, the others nodding in agreement.

“I’ll be in there to direct, but we’ll keep it pretty minimal – and no issue if it doesn’t turn out. Who actually came up with the idea, you Shayne?” Sarah asks, Shayne quickly shaking his head.

“No, I’d love to take credit for it, but- he actually did it all himself, he very vaguely knows what we do here and as you might have picked up the other day when they came in, he _quite_ enjoys being the centre of attention, so he likes the being on video thing.”

“Oh, does the attention thing run in the family?” Ian jokes, a few others laughing at his pointed roast.

“Nathan literally did a Shayne-style scream at Mickey Mouse yesterday, it might,” Courtney speaks up, “now – we got Bryce and Brianna after that, yeah? Nathan is going to be looking for me while he’s here, I really can’t do wardrobe for that shoot until after he leaves. Don’t want to scare him.”

“That’s cool, if it works for production we could probably push that to early afternoon, not really much else on today,” Garret suggests, and it is agreed, their meeting coming to a close soon after.

Nathan is his usual chaotic ball of energy when he arrives with Chris just before 10am, bouncing into the office space and saying hello to everyone he remembers from being there two days earlier.

“Aunty Courtney, Rosie wanted me to give you this,” he drags his Dad beside him over near Courtney’s desk, holding out his hand holding a piece of paper, “I’m not sure what it is, she’s not very good at drawing but I don’t tell her that.”

“Thank you, Nathan. Maybe Rosie is just learning?” Courtney suggests, taking the piece of paper – she figures, being a vaguely animalistic blue scribble, it’s probably Bluey again – from him and setting it beside her computer. He gives a non-committal shrug in response, before joining Shayne, Damien and Chris – and some crew – in walking through to the Games studio.

“This what it’s going to be like when you and Shayne have kids, Courtney?” Olivia teases, when they’ve left the room, Courtney laughing and shaking her head.

“That’s an if, not a when.”

“Oh-“ Olivia raises an eyebrow, confused, “trouble in paradise?”

“God, no, everything’s perfect,” Courtney answers, quickly, “we just aren’t convinced we’re ever going to want kids of our own. It’s cool getting to just do the fun parts with the nieces and nephews, though.”

————————————————

“So, Nathan, Sarah is going to stand over there behind the camera – she might tell us what to do for the video if she needs to, but because we’re just playing games, she might not even need to say anything and we can just play and talk, yeah?” Shayne explains, as they sit down on the couch in front of the TV, Nathan once again between Shayne and Damien.

“Jason always tells me I talk to much when we play, but talking is cool this time right?” Nathan asks.

“Definitely,” Damien confirms, Shayne nodding in response, “Who’s going to take the intro and outro?”

“That’s the stuff at the start and the end right?” Nathan asks again, Damien quickly agreeing.

“Hey Nathan, do you want to help do the start of the video? When we start filming, maybe Shayne can start off and then you can tell everyone your name and what game you’re all going to be playing?” Sarah suggests, shifting in front of the camera as she does. They spend a few more minutes planning the details before they move into video mode and start.

“It’s the Damien and Shayne show with an extra special guest!” Shayne introduces, to start the video, Nathan quickly following on behind him.

“I’m Nathan and we’re gonna play Mario Party minigames!”

“Nathan is my _best_ friend, of course,” Damien continues on the introduction, Shayne playing shocked in response.

“No Damien we’re all best friends, even Uncle Shayne,” Nathan corrects him, before Shayne launches into starting up the game.

“What character you wanna go for, Nathan?” Damien prompts him, when they get to character select.

“I _always_ play Luigi because green is the best colour and his hair is better than Mario,” Nathan explains, matter-of-factly, conveniently launching Shayne and Damien into a fight over which character has the next best hair.

They don’t know what to expect with Nathan’s actual skills at the game – sure, he’s a good 20 years younger than them, but it _is_ Mario Party – so they start lightly on him in the first game. He starts getting ahead, though, so Damien and Shayne exchange a look over his head – mostly for the cameras – and start trying a little bit harder to actually win, while indulging his chatter about the game in front of them.

“I haven’t played games with Uncle Shayne before because I don’t live near here, does he always lose?” Nathan turns to Damien, after Shayne comes third for the second minigame in a row – Nathan and Damien had won one each, respectively – and Shayne makes a show of frowning.

“Hey! I’m not that bad, maybe you guys are just really good?” he suggests.

“Sometimes he beats me, but not very often,” Damien responds, “I’m meant to be the one around here that _always_ wins.”

“Well, I beat you the first time!”

They play six minigames – they’re quick, after all – and banter happily the whole time, before Damien takes the outro.

“So, that was the Damien and Shayne show plus Nathan! Have fun, Nathan?”

“Yes!” Nathan calls, “and I beat Damien twice!”

“But we _all_ won twice, so doesn’t that make it a draw?” Shayne jumps in.

“Maybe we have to play again another time to find the winner then?” Nathan suggests, grinning. Sarah throws them a thumbs up for the unintentionally future-content-baiting ending statement, before signalling for Damien to wrap up with an end card.

“Cut! That was great, guys!” Sarah says, stepping out from behind the cameras.

“Did I do good for the video?” Nathan asks her, mildly concerned, and she nods.

“You did, you guys were super funny. Did you have fun?”

“Yeah,” Nathan answers, nodding, before they all move from the studio back out towards the office, Nathan falling into step between Shayne and Chris.

“We’ll probably just go through Shayne, but once we’ve got that edited we’ll send it through so you and Nathan can make sure it’s all good before the video goes live, and absolutely no problem if there’s a change of heart and it doesn’t,” Sarah explains, to Chris, the latter nodding along.

“Thanks, Sarah – I’m sure it’ll be fine, though.”

Nathan excitedly tells Courtney about their game for a few minutes, and she indulges him, although carefully shifting their conversation into the break room so they don’t interrupt everyone else trying to work in the office. It’s a task for Courtney and Chris to convince him to leave, but a reminder that Diane and Rob were taking them to the beach for the afternoon works eventually, and he gives both Shayne and Courtney enthusiastic hugs before they leave.

“So, I heard we finally learnt how to beat Damien in a Games shoot – bring in a kid under ten?” Ian jokes, when they’re all hanging out over lunch a while later.

“I wish I could say we let him win but he genuinely beat me,” Damien answers, with a laugh, “although it _was_ Mario Party, guys, that game is like 80% chance.”

“Sure it is, Dames,” Shayne laughs, “we didn’t tell him to but he literally threw in a ‘should we do this again?’ teaser at the end because we all tied.”

“What a natural!” Ian laughs.

————————————————

The table read for their influencer sketch had gone over well enough when they went through it a week earlier – it was kind of stupid, giving intentionally bad flirting instructions – and as much as it was flirting, it was mostly at other people. And it was in character, and everyone was now settled enough with the idea of them being together for real that they didn’t make much of a deal about it when they played some form of innuendo at each other in a sketch. Still…

“Low key scared for thiiiiis,” Courtney half-sings, standing in front of their white backdrop setup for the Bryce-and-Brianna only parts of the video, readjusting the jacket around her shoulders. Shayne gives half a nod in agreement, before settling into his forced flex Bryce pose as one of their producers moves out to slate the start.

They manage, for the most part. They get through most of their lines about the scenes they’re yet to film afterwards, and they throw in _just_ enough improv to add a little extra to them.

“Think you could play off each other a little more?” the shoot director calls, “could just be some outro stuff, but so we’ve got plenty.”

It’s fine, for a while: they bullshit about more bad flirting techniques, commenting on each other’s suggestions more so than each other. Shayne moves around continuously, dodging around Courtney’s own swaying to ensure they never _actually_ touch.

“Come join us-“ Courtney starts when the director signals for an actual outro, eyes vague and unblinking towards the camera, “-for the orgy.”

“Come join us…” Shayne repeats after her, and she can _tell_ he’s struggling to act off the back of her full statement. She pushes against him in response, lifting her leg up in front of him.

“You’re not- you’re not participating,” she pushes him, and he responds by wrapping his arm around her thigh, moving to hold around her shoulder when it causes her to tip forward slightly as they speak through the end card.

Courtney breaks the second he finishes, reclaiming her leg and pulling away from him slightly as she laughs, letting the Brianna character fall off. Shayne quickly follows, shaking his head as he steps away from her. The director calls cut, and they walk off the set.

“I’m trying very hard to do a staying in character thing right now and it is nottttt helping my improv reaction times,” Shayne admits, relaxing back into his usual posture.

“yeah, yeah, now I gotta go try not to break while pretending to kiss _Damien_ ,” Courtney emphasises, before they move apart to go and shoot the rest of the video in various set locations.

The rest of the shoot is easier, they’re vaguely in a shot together outside with Kimmy but they’re both fake-flirting with _her_ , not each other, and it’s fine. It takes like five takes for Courtney to chase Damien for a kiss without breaking, but it’s fine. They manage.

“Why did that feel so off?” Shayne asks her, after they’ve finished shooting. They’re both still in their wardrobe, but they’ve ended up with an accidental moment of privacy in the kitchen while they grab waters to take back to their desks. “It did feel off, right?”

“Yeah, it felt kinda off,” Courtney confirms, “I don’t know about you, but my brain got weirdly fixated on making sure I didn’t break while throwing innuendo at you.”

“Yeah. The orgy thing kinda threw me off, sorry,” he admits, “because I think… it’s fine when it’s Brianna and Bryce, they’re wild, whatever, but I think I felt weird because I was resisting _us_ getting that innuendo-heavy on camera.”

“Yup. And I mean, I can still play a character opposite you, that’s fine, but this particular video was just a little too… direct,” Courtney agrees. “Doesn’t help that I kinda find the whole flexing thing hot.”

“Yeah, look, I prefer you when you look like yourself but if I’m letting my brain really go for it here…” Shayne trails off, glancing pointedly down to her jacket, now sitting open at the front.

“Mmm, I think I am going to go change back into the Courtney look and I’ll flash you for real when we get home,” Courtney answers, Shayne laughing as she steps away from him, heading back towards wardrobe.


	48. Chapter 44: Stones

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is partially another side-effect of my career, and also of me being Australian, because I couldn't not include the Australia trip in this fic but at the same time... yeah, gotta allude to what was happening in Australia around this time last year. I haven't gone into any detail, but a very mild TW for allusions to Black Summer in the next couple chaps.
> 
> But also it's still mostly fluff.

Shayne visits the jewellery store where he is purchasing Courtney’s ring alone for the first time in mid-February. He gets a text from them confirming the stones are in store for him to look at – he’s glad, even though the text doesn’t exactly say that in quite so many words, that Courtney doesn’t happen upon it, given the frequency with which they use each other’s phones.

“Hey Abby,” Shayne greets his usual sales assistant with a nod as he steps in, late on a Monday afternoon after a Goldbergs shoot.

“Hey Shayne, come through, we’ve got your stones ready out here,” she waves him straight through to the consulting room at the back of store, and he follows, taking a seat opposite her at the desk as she pulls out a tray covered by a black cloth.

“Now – we’ve managed to find some gorgeous diamonds, if I do say so myself,” she starts, moving the cover to reveal two smaller boxes and a selection of small instruments. “Now this-“ Abby holds up a small oval tool, “is called a loop, it’s a kind of magnifying instrument we use for inspecting gemstones.”

She pulls the twelve smaller stones which will form the halo out first, using a pair of tweezers to spread them across the black tray. Shayne gives a general enough look to them, turning down looking closer with the loop. They all seem to shine equally brightly, each a strong, bright white. He gives some kind of approval of them before their attention turns to the focal centre stone.

“Now – I’ve actually got three stones here. I wasn’t happy with the first choice we located,” she starts, using her tweezers to pull one stone out and sit it on the once again clear tray under the boxes of stones, “to the naked eye it is quite okay, but there is a small inclusion – a mark inside the stone – in the point of the teardrop, and that might impact how it shines in some light. I was a little confused it did get the rating we selected. Now, our second stone we found was much more promising, it’s graded identically to the other but has no major single inclusions.”

Shayne takes the offered loop, this time, leaning over slightly to look at the first stone, and then the second, while Abby holds them in place with her tweezers.

“Oh, yeah – I can’t tell them apart just sitting on the table but it’s really noticeable in that,” Shayne admits, after looking to the second stone, “I can definitely knock out the first option. You mentioned a third option?”

“Yes,” Abby nods, shifting the first diamond back into its box and moving it aside, “now, this third one is actually a grade higher than we had originally discussed. It was a lucky find, actually – our sourcing team found it in the process of looking for a stone for another ring and added it to the option for yours. It’s roughly the same price as the second stone, too.”

“Oh, that’s sparkly,” Shayne can’t stop from commenting when it is pulled out onto the black tray in front of him. Abby laughs lightly in response, before again handing him the loop.

“It is absolutely your decision – there is a small price difference, but yes, it is a very beautiful diamond,” Abby nods, as he places it back down on the tray.

“What numbers are we looking at for price?”

“Okay, so- we’ve actually come very close to the $10,000 estimate. If you went the route of this second diamond, we’d be looking at $9,950. This, on the other hand, would be $10,150,” she explains, gesturing to the third stone.

“So 200 difference,” he nods, passing the loop back to her and flicking his eyes between the two stones. Abby doesn’t say anything, simply moving to tidy up the tray in front of them and place all the diamonds – other than the two he’s looking at – back in their correct containers.

He’s had plenty of time to internally rationalise the fact he was going to spend five figures on a single item, that was fine. He knew Courtney would be bashful if she knew so he wasn’t going to tell her, and it really wasn’t about having to _spend_ a certain amount on her – it just happened to be what he decided to pick. Still, he wasn’t usually one to part with money so easily. He was rational, a little stingy. He’d drop $50 on getting food delivered in a day and think nothing of it, of course, but nudge over the hundred line and he started to think. And this was… quite a few nudges over that hundred line.

“Okay. I’ll go for the third stone,” he nods, decisively, and Abby merely repeats his nod and starts packing the stones away.

“Of course. Now, if we’re going ahead with this ring with these stones, I will need to take a 20% deposit today,” she explains, Shayne nodding. He subconsciously thanks the fact that joint bank accounts have never come up in their dating conversations as he swipes his card, before stepping out of the store and immediately pulling out his phone to text Damien.

“I just spent a large amount of money on a ring.”

“Well – not all of it right now. Just deposit for now. But the custom has the go ahead.”

Damien’s reply comes quickly, in the form of a line of shocked emojis, followed by a more detailed message.

“Might seem like a big number – but you’re only going to make this particular purchase once, it’s a Big Deal, and it’s for her.”

“Exactly,” he types back, before sliding into his car, trying to get his excitement under control before he returns home to Courtney. He’s not exactly good at hiding things from her – he rarely tries – but he thinks he has enough willpower to do it this one time.

————————————————

They almost call off their trip to Australia. They’d all seen what was happening since October with fires, they’d seen the footage of people huddled in boats on the water as the coastline burned behind them and they’d seen the injured koalas. They had rapidly created a Smoshstralia charity shirt to launch in early January alongside their announcement they’d be attending the local Supanova conventions in Melbourne and the Gold Coast, but then they heard about the smoke.

“Okay – so, Gold Coast is totally unaffected at least from a smoke point of view, apparently _their_ fires were a few months ago…” Sarah explains, at a meeting a week out from their departure, “and Melbourne has largely been fine. And it’s cleared in Sydney, except some days it comes back, but it _should_ be fine – so we’re still going.”

“Is this the first time you’ve left North America? I know you went to Mexico a couple years ago, but you haven’t been elsewhere, right?” Shayne asks Courtney, as they pull their final items into a suitcase the morning before their flight.

“Yeah, first long-haul flight that’s for sure. Fuckin what are we gonna do for 17 hours in a plane?” she shakes her head, “you’ve been to England though, right?”

“I mean, yeah, but I was a kid and that’s nowhere near as far as that. At least we’re leaving so late, I guess we can sleep?” Shayne shrugs.

They fly business class – courtesy of the promoter of the convention who was flying them out – where there are two seats each side of the aisle, and their seats have them in three consecutive aisles along one side of the plane. Their flight leaves at 10pm, but they’re served a late dinner – second dinner, as Ian calls it – just after they depart, anyway. The cabin lights are dimmed not long later, and much of their section of the plane – Sarah, Matt and Ian included – seem to choose sleep. Damien, for his part, is bingeing an anime from the in-flight entertainment.

“You think you got enough room there for me?” Courtney asks Shayne, softly, gesturing to his seat closer to the window. He nods, and she immediately slides over into the space beside him, pressing up against his side as his arm wraps around her shoulders.

“D’you wanna sleep or watch something?” he asks, voice still quiet.

“Let’s watch a movie or something?” she suggests, and they do just that, taking one earphone each of a crappy pair of wired earbuds as they lie in silence, each only half-watching the small screen in front of them.

“We should go somewhere together,” Shayne interrupts their silence, twenty minutes into the movie, “I don’t know where, just – take some time off, get out of LA, just by ourselves.”

“I like that idea. We can go somewhere and just… relax, y’know?” she agrees quickly, head nodding slightly against his chest.

“I kind of like the idea of finding some fancy rainforest place we could run away to. Just… really get away from everything. I know we spend almost all our time together already, but- it’d mean we could really just spend time together and not have to think about anything else,” Shayne continues, “or we could go somewhere different and fun and do heaps of stuff. I dunno. Either seems fun.”

“I think I want the relaxing option first,” Courtney admits, “I know we only had time off recently over Christmas, but I get what you mean about wanting to spend time together that isn’t dominated by thinking about other things.”

“We should start trying to look somewhere up when we get back to LA,” Shayne agrees, before they fall back into a comfortable silence as their movie continues. They don’t pay a whole heap of attention, and they soon fall asleep curled up together.

Courtney wakes first, at what would be about 7am in LA but is apparently 2am the following day in Melbourne. She can vaguely hear Damien and Ian talking to each other in the seats immediately in front of them, but she remains still and quiet, feeling the steady rise and fall of Shayne’s chest below her cheek. She has no desire to wake him – clearly her own body won’t let her forcibly adjust to their new time zone, but she’s happy to give him the opportunity to do better than her.

She isn’t the only one cuddling closer – his legs are entwined messily with hers, his right arm wrapped loosely around her midsection, and his left hand is resting around hers. She’s noticed it’s something he’s been doing more and more often, often seemingly without noticing – rubbing his finger against the space below the first knuckle on her left ring finger.

They hadn’t actively talked about it since that night in Seattle, although her own feelings have settled since then. She’s ready, she knows what she’ll say when he asks, and she has a sneaking suspicion that some of the times he’s suddenly got much more touchy with her before going to see Damien have something to do with ring shopping. Still, she has no desire to pry; she’s happy to take the surprise, whenever it happens, however it happens. She wants a ring on her finger – but she’s happy to wait as long as he needs.

She feels him wake up an hour after she does, his breath hitching slightly as he shifts sideways. Neither of them speak, but she twists her own left hand around to hold his and he grips hers in response, a quiet acknowledgement that they are both content to stay in silence for another little while.

“I hate to move because I love cuddling you, but I need to pee,” Shayne whispers with a soft laugh half an hour later. They both reluctantly shift, Courtney standing up to stretch as much as she can as he steps out into the aisle. Damien and Ian both appear to still be awake, and they wave at Shayne before both glancing back and also standing up to greet Courtney.

“How’s it going?” Ian asks, his voice remaining low. There’s still sleeping people all around them, and they have no desire to piss anyone off by making noise.

“Good, good. Woke up way too early for adjusting to the new time zone though, Shayne did mildly better than me by an hour or so. How you guys going?” she shifts the question back on them.

“Same as you, I guess,” Ian nods, “might have another nap soon though, still got six hours to go.”

“I haven’t slept,” Damien admits, “not good at the sleeping on planes deal but I will manage.”

“At least we’ve got a pretty dead day when we first get there,” Courtney responds, before they all sit back down into their own seats – or, in her case, Shayne’s. She lifts the window shade ever so slightly to peek out, seeing nothing but darkness and the lights on the plane’s wings sitting behind them.

“Fuck plane bathrooms, seriously,” Shayne mutters, when he returns, Courtney sliding over to the edge of his seat so he can settle back in and she can throw her legs over his lap to cuddle up to his side again.

“Mmm, not pleasant?”

“Not at all. I don’t understand in the slightest why people think fucking in them is a good idea,” he replies, shaking his head, and Courtney grins in acknowledgement.

“You gonna sleep more, or nah?” she switches the topic, and he shrugs.

“It’s like 4am there already, right? I guess a few hours wouldn’t hurt… do you want to put another movie on just to try and fall asleep to?”

“Yeah, sure,” she replies, reaching out to tap on the screen a few times to throw on some random nothing movie, setting the volume close to minimum before they fall back into comfortable silence against each other.


	49. Chapter 45: Melbourne

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gratuitous Australian/Melbourne references in this one because I am Australian and, for one part of my life, lived in Melbourne (although I don't any more). But also I've seen some of the Australian content on YouTube and a lot of what I've written is either nabbed from that or intentionally not real but building plot.

“Oh, wow, you can literally see the coast and-“ Courtney points out the window, Shayne pressing close to her to see beside her, her statement falling to an end when she realises that she can tell all the ground below them as the plane crosses over onto the Australian continent is burnt.

“Jesus,” Shayne replies, with a heavy sigh, “I guess even though we stopped talking about it in the US – it’s still going to be like that for a long time.”

“Yeah,” she replies, before they both fall back into Shayne’s seat, not looking out the window any further. Courtney has to reluctantly return to her own seat an hour before they land, when breakfast is served and before they start to descend into Melbourne. Still, she twists her head to watch out Shayne’s window as they seemingly fly straight across Melbourne before landing at the airport.

“We’re in Australia!” Sarah enthuses, when they all group together after piling off the plane.

“Yeah, but can we get through security and shit before we get excited?” Ian responds, the others brushing off his grumpiness as they follow the crowd through the airport towards security.

“Well, this’ll be fun,” Shayne comments, flipping open his passport and holding it out in front of himself so the others can see it too, “they got the face recognition scanners, I wonder if it can handle my dark-ass emo hair from when I was 22?”

It doesn’t, predictably, and he has to move through to an actual human service counter. He throws an apologetic wave at the others waiting for him on the other side as he lines up, before stepping up to the stoic looking man.

“Hi, reason for travel?” he asks.

“Work, temporary entertainment visa,” Shayne confirms, handing over his passport with the relevant documents included.

The man types away at his computer for a second, before taking the passport open on the photo page and holding it up, glancing between Shayne and the document.

“Alright, just one thing,” the customs officers starts, seriously, “you’re my favourite pizza place.”

He nods his head and gives half a smile as he hands the documents back over, Shayne openly laughing and giving him a rushed thanks as he is waved through to go over to the others, immediately telling them what had happened.

They find all their luggage with ease and are soon in the car taking them to their hotel in central Melbourne, and it kind of helps get the enthusiasm going.

“I saw a kangaroo like right beside this freeway last time I was here for VidCon,” Ian explains, gesturing outside the window as they drive away from the airport.

“Oh my god, kangaroos!” Courtney squeals, not twenty seconds later, and they all look over to the side of the road to see a group of kangaroos calmly sitting beside the road, eating at the grass.

“Oh my god my _ear_ ,” Damien jokes, leaning away from her, but she simply brushes him off as they continue to look out the window at everything they pass.

They head out into the city after they briefly settle into their hotel, finding a relaxed café for lunch and a bunch of cool vintage stores to poke around. Matt brings along a vlog camera, but they barely use it, instead simply wandering around to kill the afternoon and fight off the jet lag threatening to take on all of them. Still, they don’t push their bodies too far, instead having dinner early at their hotel and all returning to their rooms before 9pm local.

They’re all brighter the following morning, and they wander into Flinders Lane for brunch at a place suggested by one of their writers. It’s a cool place, and the food is fantastic, so they certainly don’t complain – even though they’re recognised a handful of times.

“The Australian fans are genuinely more chill,” Damien muses, after one group of teenagers waves and walks away from them after asking for a photo on the street a little while after their breakfast.

“I noticed that last time I was here too, Australia in general is just super chill,” Ian nods, before they all let Matt guide them through the city and to an inner-Suburban area just south of the main city that someone refers to as Carlton, full of old buildings and interesting little shops. For her part, Courtney finds a pair of plush magpies she figures will come in use for a TNTL bit, and they all go via a supermarket on the way back to their hotel to grab a stash of as many stereotypical Australian snacks as they can think of.

There is a guest lounge of sorts near the top of the hotel, and it is entirely empty, so they settle themselves in there for the afternoon, messing around and letting them hype each other up to have the appropriate amount of energy for the right time zone, sending most of the evidence to snapchat stories.

“Dude, Tim Tams are good,” Courtney enthuses, when she tries her first one, the others wholeheartedly agreeing. Smiths chips also get their tick of approval – although they’re not _that_ different to their standard American chips, and where the flavours are notably different, they’re fucking weird. Meat pie chips do not get as good of a response. Maltesers are good too, though, so they have more successes than failures.

Courtney, for her part, takes the time and the wide space open to them to test out her magpies, throwing them across their loose circle of chairs and hitting Ian straight in the head as she does so.

“Hey, guys, how about we get out of here before we get kicked out?” Sarah suggests, soon after, and they do just that, disappearing to their own rooms for the little while before they’re all heading out to dinner.

“You know, I’d kind of forgotten about it, but I wonder where we’d find Bluey stuff?” Courtney muses, lying on their hotel bed scrolling through her phone as Shayne sits on the armchair over by the window doing much the same thing half an hour later.

“Ooh, yeah, definitely - I guess we google?” Shayne suggests, Courtney nodding. She finds a lot more info on the actual show on the Australian google results than came up when she looked at it back home - she even finds a link to watch all of it for free online from the channel that owns it - but very little on where to buy merch, or if it exists. She pulls up an episode, though – they’re only short – and drags Shayne over to lie on the bed beside her and watch it on her phone. Just for the context, of course.

One of the people Sarah had been talking to from the convention organisers’ company suggests the bar they all go to for dinner that night. It’s still daylight when they meet in their hotel lobby just before 7, following Matt’s directions towards the north of the city. Their walk to dinner takes them past Flinders St Station – a landmark, to some of them, at least – and across a bridge over the river. There’s people everywhere, and they guess it makes sense, given it’s a nice Saturday evening.

They turn to the right after they cross the bridge, walking along a promenade beside the river until they reach the casual restaurant/bar/lounge combo venue they are heading for. Courtney lets her hand fall into Shayne’s as they walk, engaging in gentle conversation amongst their group as they go.

The restaurant is busy, but it’s arranged carefully enough that the noise isn’t excessive, and they feel like they can just sit and relax in the lounge-like area they are seated in.

“Hey, that must be Australian football,” Damien grabs Shayne’s attention, pointing up to a TV just near their section not long after they sit down.

“Oh, yeah - apparently it’s meant to be pretty good,” Shayne answers, his attention successfully piqued.

They ask their waiter to confirm when he returns to take drink orders a few minutes later, and he’s more than happy to explain.

“Yeah, that’s AFL or Aussie rules football - this game is actually being played just across the river at the MCG, the stadium here, first round of the season. The guys in yellow and brown, the Hawks, they’re a Melbourne team - the other guys are from over Adelaide way,” he nods, before asking what drinks they’re after.

“So-“ Shayne starts, once he’s left, leaning back in his seat and looking up at the TV, “a couple of guys have come into the NFL from already playing Australian football over here, and they always freak everyone out back home by doing these kicks where they drop the ball and kick it in mid-air at all sorts of angles- and I guess that’s just how they do it here?”

He knows that no one else on the table cares the slightest bit as much as he does about sports, but Courtney nods along to his explanation while Damien and Matt actively listen. The three boys - minus Ian - fall into conversation together as they watch up at the TV screen, equally unfamiliar with the sport and trying to make sense of how it works. Courtney tries, for a while – she’s been actively trying to engage a little more in Shayne’s sporting interest, since he’s done the same for her film and makeup things – but she eventually gives up, falling into a conversation with Sarah and Ian instead.

————————————————

Their third day in Australia is the start of their active working part of the trip. They spend a brief amount of time wandering around the convention floor taking pictures with anyone who happens upon their group and asks. They do have a formal meet and greet afterwards in one of the private conference rooms off the main convention area, and despite the stale setting, it’s kind of fun. Plus the cultural exchange with Australian fans gives them a burst of additional knowledge to go into their mini TNTL Live show with, in the late afternoon – and Shayne is visibly excited when someone gives him an AFL ball, or as they refer to it, a Sherrin.

The actual TNTL section of their show goes well, albeit slightly logistically messy. They pull out most of their well-known characters, plus a handful of local references they’ve picked up from fans talking to them or miscellaneous Google education. They make fun of America, too, and it gets the most laughs – hey, they know their cultural place in the world – and they stumble through a handful of jokes that don’t seem to land in Australia, making mental note not to use them again.

As has often been the case with their live shows, the Q&A quickly becomes the most interesting section. They get a handful of questions about Smosh past, varying in specificity, but it quickly descends into more conversational questions, and it’s nice.

“Shayne - what’s your actual favourite pizza place?” Someone asks, and it lets him tell the story about his airport security experience before they move into a group conversation about all the food they want to try in Australia.

“Okay, so like- is it cool to eat kangaroo here?” Damien asks, the crowd’s response seeming to veer towards a yes.

“God, Damien, the rest of us want to see all the animals, you want to eat them all?” Shayne teases him, before they move on to the next question. They’re quizzed about the capital of Australia - Canberra - and they’re made fun of for their botched pronunciations, amongst questions that let them to talk about their Tim Tam trying adventures and the AFL game they’d watched the previous night.

“Hey guys! So, firstly- Shayne and Courtney, your niece and nephew in the video that went up today are so cute! But my actual question - what old series do you miss most?”

“Okay so we’re all on messed up time zones right now and we don’t know what day it is in our schedules so - I’m guessing this is the punishment indie fighting game where these kids jump in during the last round?” Sarah jumps in, before throwing the answer up to the people on stage.

“Those kids are indeed very cute,” Courtney laughs, “I think I probably miss sleepover most - I mean, it was stupid and we called it that for a reason, but it was fun to just mess around with whatever we felt like.”

“You know I don’t think there’s something I miss the most,” Damien answers the actual question with non-answer, although he throws out a couple of references to old Games shows, before throwing over to Ian next.

“I don’t know if I miss it the most but I know you guys want me to say Food Battle,” he laughs, “I don’t think there’s anything I really miss the most, I love all my content babies equally.”

“Damien and Shayne show would be my pick, although there’s the odd episode of that coming back guys!” Shayne starts his answer, “as for the kids – yes, they’re great kids, they’re my brother’s kids.”

“That wasn’t planned or anything for them to be there, but it was cool, they’re super sweet - Nathan is a little bundle of chaos,” Damien explains.

“Yeah,” Courtney confirms, “they were meant to just meet Shayne and I at the office to go somewhere else, but our shoot ran overtime so they ended up crashing the video.”

“No spoilers, but that’s not the last time you’ll see Nathan in a video either,” Shayne adds, laughing.

“Oh, actually!” Courtney jumps in, before they can throw to the next question, “I have a question for you guys - so Rosie, the little one that wouldn’t let go of me, is super obsessed with this Australian TV show called Bluey - you guys know that? Any suggestions where we could find Bluey stuff to take back for her?”

The crowd cheers at her mention of the show, and they throw a few store names out that she vaguely hears.

“Jet lag brain is definitely not going to remember all that, think you could tweet me some suggestions?” She adds, after a while, before they move on.


	50. Chapter 46: Sydney, Queensland, LA

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm inadvertently mentioning some controversial things in here, so, a disclaimer: this chapter gives no opinion whatsoever on Barangaroo development, Dark Emu's accuracy, or the Gold Coast. Actually, that last one is a lie, the Gold Coast is such a weird place now and the 'kinda Vegas vibes' tourist-town opinion is absolutely my own and the bad weather I'm writing for their trip there is because when I was there in January last year there was torrential rain the whole time. Tropics, huh?
> 
> Anyway, on with the fic (and sorry it's late today, busy busy busy post-Christmas work)

They don’t have any convention events in Sydney, but they travel there anyway for a couple of other things. They spend their first day – the day after the convention in Melbourne – doing some of the more touristy stuff, taking the ferry over to Manly, although the weather is gross so they don’t actually bother with the beaches. In the afternoon they do an impromptu little meetup with a bunch of fans that find them near Madame Tussauds, before they head inside the wildlife park next door to actually film something for their channel.

It’s a weird setting for an animal park, inside a building in the middle of the city, but they manage to spy some good animals and get some good footage. They get a tour through some of the less public areas of the facility, too, and they get all get to hold koalas. Shayne, for his part, finds himself inwardly squealing at how damn cute the koalas are in a way he does not normally do, but he lets a little bit of the reaction out for the video. And then he makes a bunch of jokes with his face as close to a koala as the staff from the wildlife park will let him be, too.

“Anyone want to hold a snake?” their guide asks, not long after he koalas. Shayne is less enthused this time, backing away and staying at the edge of their camera’s framing.

“Oooh, yes!” Courtney volunteers herself, and he raises an eyebrow at her in surprise. She looks over at him as if to call him over to join her – it’s a two-person job – but she evidently sees that he is _not_ on board with the idea at all, going for Damien instead.

“Sorry, but that thing was fucking scary,” Shayne tells her after they have left the wildlife park, Courtney laughing.

“Oh, big scary Shayne is scared of snakes?” Ian picks up on their conversation, teasing him, “why you apologising to Court though?”

“I’m not- okay, that thing was huge, dude,” Shayne defends himself, “and because she was going to ask me to hold it with her.”

“You guys having silent conversations in videos again?” Matt jokes, and Courtney rolls her eyes.

“Actually, not in the video, that’s the point of them being silent,” she tells him.

They go exploring on their second day in Sydney, much like they’d done on their first day in Melbourne. The weather is dreary again, although it isn’t raining like it was the first day. Ian comments on it when he strikes up a conversation with a waiter at the place they go to for breakfast, and she tells them that it’s high smoke haze that isn’t low enough to smell but is there just enough to block out the sun. They try not to think about that.

After filling in their morning, they have a late lunch at a café just beside the harbour, on their way to the huge gardens that wrap around the edge of the harbour. They shoot bits and pieces of footage as they move around between scenic vantage points and giant-ass trees, figuring it can be added into their Smoshstralia vlog. And, of course, some of it goes on Instagram in a slightly more immediate sense.

“You look like such an asshole doing that. A hot asshole, but still,” Courtney teases Shayne, when he asks her to take a photo of him posing on a hill with the city in the background.

“That’s the point,” he grins when he returns to her side and takes the phone back from her, Ian giving a sarcastic laugh in response.

“Court and I might head back into the city and look around in there a bit, if that’s cool?” Shayne suggests, in the mid-afternoon. The others quickly agree, and when they start walking back around along the harbour towards their hotel at Barangaroo, Courtney and Shayne instead turn in towards the city itself.

“So – I figure this is mission Bluey?” Courtney jokes, as they follow street signs back towards the main shopping mall integrated into the centre of the city.

“Yeah,” Shayne confirms, as they first head for a bookstore that had been suggested a few times on Twitter.

“Okay so… kids stuff?” Courtney starts, when they step into the expansive Dymocks store, glancing around.

“Right…” Shayne trails off, clearly distracted, and Courtney can’t help but laugh as she sees him looking in the direction of the Australian history section.

“Okay, so we can look for a book on the emu war too?” she suggests, guiding him over to that section. They don’t find an emu war book – although Shayne finds another, on Australian Indigenous history and fittingly titled ‘Dark Emu’, that he decides to purchase – but when they do finally make it to the kids section, they’re spoiled for choice.

It’s a similar story in the department store they visit next. Bluey is everywhere. From the bookstore they manage to get a colouring in book and a couple of picture story books. In the department store, they restrain themselves for the sake of suitcase space, but they do buy a large Bluey plush toy and take photos of the other stuff they see, just in case there’s some way they can help Chris and Julie get it shipped over to the US or buy it online in the future.

Their stop in Sydney is brief, to say the least, and they fly into the Gold Coast the next day. The wildlife sanctuary they visit on the Gold Coast is much more expansive, an open section of parkland just south of the city that lets them wander through huge natural enclosures and feed kangaroos. For his part, Shayne is a fan of the kookaburras, because their laugh – it really is a _laugh_ – is so entertaining he can’t stop thinking about it, even when they crowd around a restaurant booth for dinner that evening.

“Anyone else get a Vegas vibe here? And I don’t mean right here, but like, Gold Coast in general,” Damien comments, partway through their meal, and Courtney nods.

“It does seem very… tourist,” she admits, “and like, tonnes of super tall buildings along the coast but then just nothing back behind it?”

“I kinda want to go down to the beach after dinner, if anyone wants to join,” Damien shifts the conversation ever so slightly, and all but Matt and Ian agree.

It’s a short walk from their hotel down to the beach access point. It’s still ambiently light when they walk down, but just so, and they walk in calm silence as they do – they’ve got a hotel a little ways further up the cost from the main section of the city, and it means there’s a lot less people around.

“I really should go to the beach more at home. It’s not like we don’t live in fucking California,” Damien comments, as they all pull their shoes off at the beach access point and step onto the stand. Sarah gives some kind of agreeing comment, before the two of them walk quickly straight down towards where the tide is rushing up against the sand.

“That could be a cool-“ Courtney starts, walking up behind him but staying far enough back to keep out of the water. She pauses, glancing over at Sarah, before looking back to see Damien raising an eyebrow.

“What?” he pushes her.

“Would be a cool beach date, if there was someone you wanted to take on a cool beach date,” she finishes with a non-committal shrug.

“I guess it would be,” Damien replies, casually. She mouths a ‘sorry’ at him the second Sarah turns her back, but he just shakes his head.

————————————————

Their last day in Australia, the following day, flows much the same as their first stop of the convention down in Melbourne, except it’s raining and hot and humid and just downright _unpleasant_. It drives them inside for the night, away from the beach, and they’re not exactly displeased to be on a dry, humidity-controlled plane out the following morning, even if where they are means they have to endure a multi-stop process to actually get back to LA. Plus, they leave early in the morning Australian time, and it throws their jet lag on return into high gear.

“Dames, are you free any day after work this week? It’s ready, and I’m kind of terrified of going to pick it up,” Shayne asks him quietly when they’re both in the kitchen, ten days after their return from Australia, all of them now finally settling back into the right time zone and their usual work schedules. Courtney is in wardrobe for a shoot, so he figures it’s safe enough to indirectly reference it.

“Sure, Shanye- Kimmy and I are hanging out tomorrow... but I could do Thursday?” He suggests, Shayne nodding in confirmation.

“You told anyone else at work you guys are seeing each other yet?” he shifts the conversation slightly, Damien shaking his head.

“No, we’re not really... official yet? I don’t know. I mean, maybe we are, I don’t know. We haven’t talked about it,” he shrugs, “we probably should talk about it.”

“What needs to be talked about?” Courtney’s voice pipes up as she steps into the kitchen herself, Shayne flashing scared eyes at Damien for a moment before he turns around to face her.

“Uh, the-“ Damien starts.

“I was kidding, Dames, you guys can have your DNMs in private,” She cuts him off, moving over to the fridge to pull out the smoothie she’d thrown in there just before she had to go do makeup.

“Kimmy stuff, so, it’s cool. Need to talk to her about... what we actually are and whether we should tell anyone,” Damien admits, Courtney nodding.

“You’ve been going on dates for what, two and a half months? Maybe you should,” Courtney agrees, “anyway, she’ll be out of makeup soon too so... I gotta get back to work. As do you guys!”

They all walk back through to the studios, then, conversations giving way to lighter teasing.


	51. Chapter 47: Bookcase

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My chapter lengths got a little all over the place when I rewrote this section because the cutoff points were pretty important, so this one is a little shorter, but also without being too spoiler-heavy... The next few chaps are nice and fluffy. Enjoy!

Shayne tells Courtney he’s going over to Damien’s after work on Thursday to help him put together a new bookcase in his streaming room. It works, because Damien had done exactly that by himself the night before, so his next stream would actually feature a new bookcase in his backdrop. Still, Shayne wrings his hands together as he sits at his desk waiting for their day to end, trying not to throw any obvious signals of what he’s doing after work anywhere.

“What’s got you so impatient?” Sarah asks, and he shrugs to buy himself time.

“My brain has just mentally clocked out for the day, nothing in particular,” he answers, thankful Courtney is currently down the hallway in the editing room going over something with Tommy and Kevin. Sarah seems to accept it, and they fall back into their quiet work environment until it hits 4 and people start to leave.

“Hey Shayne,” Courtney turns to him, grabbing his attention when he starts to pack up for the day, “I’m going to stay on a bit and finish a couple of things here - when do you think you’ll be home?”

“I’m not sure exactly, depends how cooperative this bookcase is,” Shayne shrugs, glancing over at Damien, who gives a supporting nod, “I’ll be home for dinner though.”

“Okay, all good. See you later, then,” she smiles, accepting his answer as he quickly leans down to place a kiss against the corner of her mouth.

They drive separately to the mall because they have to drive separately home after, and Shayne kind of hates it. His thoughts run over and over through his head without any distraction other than the crappy radio show playing through his car speakers, and he can’t get them under control. He’s excited, sure - he wants to see it, he wants to have it in his possession for real, he’d given his bank a heads up that he would be making a legitimate $8000 payment to someone…

But at the same time - what if he saw it and it wasn’t perfect?

“Why so nervous?” Damien asks him, when they meet up in the car park at the mall, and he sighs.

“It has to be perfect. I need it to be absolutely perfect for her. And- what if it isn’t? Plus, it’s been so much build-up for two months to this, having it be real is just... a lot,” Shayne admits, hands stuffed in pockets as they walk through to the jewellery store.

“You’re excited too though, right?” he pushes, and Shayne nods.

“I kind of can’t believe in a little while I’m going to be holding the ring that I’m going to use to ask the love of my life to marry me, but I can’t wait to do that. I mean- I am waiting a little to actually ask, technically. But yeah, it’s...” he trails off, at a loss for words.

“I get it, dude. I’m not going to ask for details, but have you decided when and how you’ll do it?” Damien asks.

“Mostly,” Shayne nods, “I’m not doing anything huge. It’s not our style to get excessive over something like this- but I’ve got an idea of sorts and I’m thinking of a particular week. I’ve gotta hide it until then, which could be interesting.”

“I would say hide it amongst your clothes, but she wears your stuff a lot, doesn’t she?” Damien laughs.

“She does. She only steals my shirts though, so I think hiding it amongst my pants is going to be the best bet,” he admits, “I’ve just gotta be careful who puts away laundry for a while. But I’m normally the one that does laundry, anyway.”

“If you really struggle, happy to offer up a safe place at mine for you to leave it in, but I’m guessing you’ll want to keep it nearby?” he offers.

“Thanks, Dames, but yeah, I don’t think I’ll want to let it go once I’ve got it. You will be the only person that actually sees the ring before she does, though. Also...” he sighs, “You may inadvertently learn how much I spent on it today because I gotta pay the balance, so no making fun of me, please.”

“Of course, dude- I’m absolutely with you on how important and special this is for you, okay? It’s not the time for jokes, and I kind of feel quite honoured that you’ve actually asked me to come along today.”

“Thanks, Damien,” Shayne nods, as they finally step into the store.

Abby is with another customer up at the payment counter, but she glances up and gives them an acknowledging smile before she continues with that transaction. They pause about midway up the store, Shayne drumming his fingers against his thigh as they wait.

“Hi there, would you like to come through to our consulting room? Abby will be with you shortly,” one of the other sales assistants approaches them after a moment and Shayne nods silently as they follow her through to the small, now surprisingly familiar space. His drumming moves to the table, nervous energy escaping as repetitive hand movements. He stops the second Abby enters the room, a small white box in hand.

“Hi Shayne, and Damien, back again for the final reveal?” Abby smiles.

“Hi Abby, yes, giving the best friend support again,” Damien replies with an equal light smile, glancing over to Shayne.

“Yeah, hi,” he nods, “I’m- kind of nervous to see it?”

“That’s totally normal, this is a big thing. Now, I won’t delay any longer, the anticipation will be part of your nerves,” she replies kindly, flipping open the box facing herself before she places it on the desk, spinning it around as she pushes it gently over in front of Shayne.

“Oh, wow,” he mumbles under his breath, reaching out to pick up the box and bring it up closer to his face. He gives half a nod, he’s not really sure what he’s agreeing to, and he feels pressure behind his eyes as he reaches into the box to slide the ring out. It’s too small for him, but he sits it on the front of his index finger, shifting it around to look from different angles as he feels a couple of tears run down his face.

“Good tears?” Abby breaks the silence gently a moment later, and he nods.

“Ah, Sorry, I-“ he wipes below his eyes with his free hand, letting out a careful sigh to try and bring his emotions back in check. “It’s... perfect.”

“We’re so happy with how it’s come up,” Abby confirms, agreeing with him, grabbing a box of tissues from the desk extension behind herself and sitting them at the edge of the desk closest to Shayne.

“It’s stunning, Shayne, you’ve done well,” Damien nods, his voice serious but reassuring. It causes Shayne to snap out of his daze, pulling the ring back off his own finger and gently placing it back in its box.

“It’s... ah, yeah, sorry,” he apologises again as he reaches for a tissue to dry his eyes, blinking away the tears that remain, “I was worried I might cry. I’m... this is a lot. A good lot, but a lot.”

“No need to apologise,” Abby confirms, “I’m guessing you’re happy with the final outcome and ready to take it home?”

“Absolutely,” Shayne answers immediately, “thank you so much for helping with this, Abby.”

“I’m so glad we were able to find a solution for you,” Abby nods, in response, “I’m sure she’ll love it.”

They move out to the front counter to pay, then. Abby places the box inside a small white cardboard bag, tied shut with a black ribbon through the top, and sets it beside their payment counter. She doesn’t say the balance out loud, simply turning around the payment terminal showing it on the screen as Shayne silently swipes his card.

“For what it’s worth, I accidentally saw what you paid. Sorry,” Damien apologises, when they’re sitting in a nearby food court area a moment later with drinks. It had been their quickest trip to that store yet, they needed to kill some time before going home.

“It’s fine,” Shayne shrugs, “it was 10k all up. It’s... yeah. Not a small amount of money.”

“I know how careful you are with your money, too,” Damien nods, “but you can be careful and still rationally spend that much.”

“Yeah. Exactly. I mean- it’s not like I went into this thinking I had to spend a certain amount on her. It’s not that at all. She’s worth the world, but that’s not really part of it. It’s more... this is exactly what I wanted and that’s how much it happened to cost. And that’s okay,” Shayne nods, “it’s not just a ring. It’s- actually picking the loose stones and everything kind of gave me an appreciation for how much work goes into getting to this end product.”

“True, true,” Damien nods, “it seriously is gorgeous, by the way.”

“I’m so happy with it,” Shayne nods, “I think she’ll like it. Also, not planning to tell her the price, so keep that one quiet even after I do ask, yeah?”

“Sure, and she will like it,” he agrees, “I’m kind of excited to see it on her now- but no pressure, just whenever it does happen.”

“Yeah, I know what you mean,” he grins, “I don’t entirely trust myself not to just say screw the plan and ask her immediately… but no, I’m waiting.”


	52. Chapter 48: Touchy

“We haven’t been on an actual _date_ for a while,” Courtney muses, the Tuesday of the second week of April, as they walk together from the office through to the Games studio for a Family Style Jackbox shoot, the others trailing some ways behind them.

“Thursday?” Shayne suggests. She laughs in response, reaching out to take his hand.

“If I recall correctly, you said that the first time I suggested an actual date too…”

“I know,” he smiles softly, “but really, Thursday? I’ll plan something.”

“Sure, baby,” she nods, squeezing his hand lightly before letting go as they step into the studio and move to their places. Shayne makes a point of not sitting directly beside her, for once – although he’s directly behind her and his hand finds its way to rest on the back of the couch behind her, fingers occasionally pressing against her when she leans back – knowing he is a little too motivated to be touchy for a casual Jackbox shoot.

“Hellooooooo gamers!” Damien, on the sofa beside Courtney, gives his introduction after the video’s director indicates for them to start. They’re playing a less-known jackbox game – Faking It – on some vague sponsorship deal that Damien half-mentions as he introduces the point of the game: someone’s lying, and they have to guess who.

It starts off simple enough with a numbers game and a question about sports jerseys that doesn’t really reveal anything about any potential answers, nor does the follow up, about number of social media apps – although Shayne has a sneaking suspicion that Ian is the liar. It’s confirmed on the next question when he can’t even justify his answer.

“Ooooh, well this one could definitely find someone out,” Sarah calls at the start of the second round – a “raise your hand if” style contest –, as they wait for the timer to go for them to raise their hands. Sarah, Courtney, Shayne and Damien all raise their hands, while Ian and Tommy sit in silence.

“Wait, Shayne and Damien?” Ian calls out, confused, when the question of whether there is a bra in the player’s house pops up on the large screen in front of all of them.

“Ian, remember how I’ve lived with Courtney for _quite_ a while?” Shayne laughs, defending himself, Ian giving a quiet “oh” in realisation as Courtney looks over at him and rolls her eyes in playful mocking.

“Damien though!” Sarah calls out, “Either there’s something you haven’t told us, or Damien is the faker.” Shayne and Courtney keep their faces neutral, not wanting to accidentally give anything away.

“My roommate has a long-term girlfriend, guys, I’m just _assuming_ ,” Damien tries to explain away his response. Everyone still votes him as the faker, though, and he’s found out first round. “Okay, well, fine, my strategy was to copy Shayne which in hindsight was not a good strategy.”

Sarah manages to survive the entire way through the next round of holding up names as the Faker, before they again fall to the number round.

“How many dates before there should be nudity?” Shayne reads out the question when it appears on the screen in front of them, throwing up a slightly delayed two fingers himself when he glances around to see everyone else’s response – not because he’s the faker, he just doesn’t entirely have an opinion. Although, he realises belatedly, technically it was two dates for them.

“Well the couple have different answers,” Tommy points out, “and Shayne was _super_ delayed giving an answer…”

“To be fair, we went on a couple years’ worth of dates before anything happened,” Courtney brushes off Tommy’s questioning and her own single raised finger with a shrug, Shayne nodding in agreement, before shifting the blame on to Damien’s own four fingers, a complete outlier from the rest of them on one or two. Although, to be fair, Damien is like that.

They still all vote Shayne as the Faker, but he isn’t, and it moves on to the next round. It’s about times legs shaved in the last month, none of the boys holding up any fingers while Sarah raises 3 and Courtney 4.

“Four, Courtney? Really?” Ian pushes her, “and even Sarah – 3? How often does leg shaving need to happen, anyway?”

“I’m regularly trying to get laid, guys, just because I live with the husband doesn’t mean I don’t still do all the stuff,” Sarah defends herself.

“Like, weekly or near-weekly is pretty reasonable,” Courtney answers, “congrats to all the boys for not falling for this one, but it’s gotta be one of you guys.”

“You know I don’t trust Courtney,” Sarah speaks up, “and I want to ask your boyfriend, but I’m not sure whether I trust him to rat you out either.”

“I don’t actually know, I don’t exactly count,” Shayne shrugs off her comment, although they all vote for Courtney as the faker – him included – a minute later when required, and they’re right.

“Thanks, Shayne,” she laughs, tilting her head back to glance at him, inadvertently leaning on his hand when she does.

“Hey, I didn’t say anything!” he defends, “although I _might_ have known you were lying. But only with that one!”

The final round requires them to type in answers to three separate questions. Shayne giggles to himself as he types out his answer to the second question, earning a judgemental glance from both Ian and Tommy, but he simply brushes it off as they press forward to the answers. The first question about childhood posters reveals very little, and Ian is too busy arguing with Damien about whether Sarah’s answer of ‘Disney’ is too broad to be acceptable to even vote, so they don’t find out much about the faker’s potential identity.

“Good places to take a date- Thursday, Shayne, really? Thursday isn’t a _place_ ,” Tommy admonishes him, the second he reads out the question, and Shayne laughs.

“I know it’s not a place, Tommy, but I took it a little metaphorical, okay? Also, Thursday is kind of a thing with us,” he defends, angling his head forward towards Courtney as he finishes to indicate the other half of his ‘us’.

“It’s a thing,” Courtney agrees, “We were literally planning a date for Thursday before we started filming this, so either he’s not the Faker and he’s just being stupid or the prompt he got was _when_ is a good time for a date.”

“Do we believe them?” Ian asks, sceptical.

“I believe Courtney, I don’t know if I believe Shayne,” Damien adds his commentary.

“I think I do, but Ian, why the hell have you written Applesbee?” Sarah turns the query back on him, and it is his downfall, being discovered as the faker one unanimous vote later to end their video.

————————————————

“I wouldn’t hate if we were going somewhere that requires me getting a _tiny_ bit dressed up tonight,” Courtney tells Shayne, on Thursday morning before they head into work, and he nods in response.

“I’ve already booked and yes it’s a slightly get dressed up place,” he tells her, “new little Japanese place not far away that one of the Goldbergs guys recommended to me a while back, remember I told you about it?”

“Ooh, yeah, nice, sounds fun,” she answers, leaning over to press a kiss to his cheek before she moves into the bathroom to do her makeup before they head out. “Also – I feel _extra_ sappy today, so sorry if I’m all over you, but I love you a whole lot,” she calls out, with half a laugh, just as he reaches into the middle of his stack of pants in their closet, hand running over the box now sitting there unmoving for the last month – just to make sure it’s still there.

“Same, I don’t mind at all,” he calls back, quietly pulling the closet closed as he steps back out into the living area and starts collecting their things together to take to work.

They have an EBE shoot up first for the day, and it draws them away from each other. Shayne is mostly playing opposite Damien and a handful of small appearances from their non-cast team, and it gives him some respite from the pit of nerves and anticipation slowly growing in his mind. He stumbles through the first scene, his lines flying out of his mind the second he starts talking – but he manages to pick back up from there, falling back on improv enough to make do.

The shoot takes them through to the early afternoon, and Damien, Ian, Courtney and Shayne end up sat in the breakroom together as they have their lunch break, Damien splayed out on a bean bag on the floor as the others sit up at one of the tables. Shayne and Courtney, for their part, have pulled their chairs together so they can lean against each other as they eat.

“Any developments in your dating life, Damien?” Ian prompts him, just as Kimmy wanders into the room.

“Ooh, quizzing Dames about dating, are we?” she grins, Damien noticeably blushing as she kicks the second beanbag over so she can sit down just beside him.

“Apparently so,” he replies, glancing over at her for a moment until she flicks her eyes to him, giving an almost invisible nod, “so, um, Kimmy and I are kinda dating?”

“Wait, really?” Ian grins, “when did this happen?”

“We’ve kinda been hanging out since early January,” Kimmy supplies the answer, with a nod and a mildly embarrassed smile, “defined it a little more recently. So I guess you’re not the only Smosh couple now, guys?”

“Welcome to the club,” Courtney teases, “but hey, that’s cool, guys. I’m sorry I pulled away from you for a little bit there Kimmy – I was kinda getting Damien’s side of everything; I didn’t want to infringe on you guys’ privacy too much by ending up knowing both sides.”

“All good, I figured that was the case,” Kimmy answers, cheerily, “I do not think we will be doing any public stuff like you guys, though.”

“Ah, yeah, definitely not,” Damien laughs, before moving the topic on to something a little more casual. They kill another thirty minutes just chatting between the five of them about nothing in particular, Shayne and Courtney growing continually closer as they do until she is _almost_ sitting entirely on his chair instead of her own.

“What’s got you two so touchy today?” Ian queries, when they untangle themselves to go back to work. Shayne shrugs, glancing over at Courtney to answer.

“He’s extra hot today,” Courtney grins, clearly making a joke, before waving Ian off back towards his own office as they move back to their desks.

“To be fair, you _do_ look really beautiful today. As with all days,” Shayne murmurs into her ear just before they sit down. She doesn’t reply, simply smiling softly and blowing him a kiss before they go back to their work.


	53. Chapter 49: Predictable

“I was joking to Ian earlier, but damn you look good,” Courtney comments, eyes running shamelessly down his body as they prepare to head out, an hour or so after work. They’d spent the intervening time having pre-date cuddles on their living room couch, lying in silence against each other as they scrolled through their phones.

“So do you, baby,” Shayne answers, with a grin, “but you gotta stop ogling me so we can go out, yeah?”

“If I must,” she over-emphasises her sigh, turning around briefly to pick up the necklace she set on the kitchen bench a moment earlier, “could you do this up for me?”

“Of course,” he answers, stepping close behind her and taking each end of the chain that she holds up for him. He does it up, gently shifting her hair to the side as he lets it fall back against her neck. He can’t resist leaning forward to place a light kiss against the side of her neck, and it causes her to lean back against him.

“If you kiss my neck enough, we won’t make it to dinner,” she jokes. He doesn’t respond for a moment, simply wrapping his arms around her to hold her close.

“Come on, we need to head out,” he murmurs, “I love you _so_ much. Forever.”

“Love you forever too, baby,” she replies, twisting around in his arms to place a gentle kiss against his lips. “Come on. Let’s go.”

The restaurant is small but lively, the mostly full tables and other patrons providing just the right amount of noise to insulate their conversation in a veil of privacy without impinging their ability to talk. They order a few small plates to share, and each order a single glass of wine, neither particularly wanting alcohol to come into their night.

“Do you know when we might see Chris and Julie again, hand over those things for the kids?” Courtney asks, after they have received their wine but are still waiting on their food, light conversation flowing constantly.

“I’m not sure, honestly, but maybe sometime over summer we can try and work something out? I kind of love spending time with them even more now it’s _both_ of us spending time with them,” Shayne answers, with a soft smile, and she nods.

“I like your family – I like being part of your family. Not to say there’s anything wrong with mine, but it’s just… the calmness and there just being the two kids makes it easier to feel a lot closer to them,” she admits, hand extending sideways to take his when he upturns his palm in a silent offering.

“I get what you mean. You know, you’re going to be _so_ important to Rosie as she grows up if she keeps up this attachment to you – she has her parents, of course, but other than that she doesn’t have any close adult role models, as Julie put it,” Shayne comments, and Courtney nods.

“I’d like to be that for her. She’s bringing out a tiny bit of my maternal instinct, I guess,” Courtney shrugs, “stillll not feeling the direct maternal stuff, though. Just… I want to be the _best_ aunt ever.”

“And I want to be the best uncle,” Shayne confirms, “but not a Dad.”

“The _only_ stress dreams I’ve had since we got together are about getting pregnant,” Courtney admits, her voice lowering slightly, “I know the possibility is remote, but it’s still… not what I want. And mostly those are stress dreams about losing you over it.”

“If it did happen, I’d be by your side to deal with it however we decide to at the time,” Shayne murmurs, lifting her hand up to place a kiss against her knuckles, “I’m in this with you no matter what happens in our lives. But at the same time – yeah, I don’t want that to happen, but I’m comfortable we’re taking the right precautions.”

“You really are the most perfect boyfriend,” Courtney replies, gaze shifting up to meet his eyes, “I never thought I could trust someone as much as I do you, but I absolutely trust you with _everything_. I feel so safe and supported and loved with you. I love you so much.”

“It makes me so happy that you feel that, Court, because I want to be perfect for you. You deserve perfect. You truly are everything to me, all I want to do is to be able to love and support you through life,” he replies, thumb rubbing circles across the back of her hand – he makes a point of avoiding her fingers, this time. “Besides – you’re the perfect girlfriend, and I feel all that back from you. I’ve… always been kind of wary of getting into a deep emotional connection like this, but I’m not scared with you. With you, everything is just exciting.”

“I can’t wait to spend the rest of our lives together,” she replies, simply, bring her other hand over to grip his.

The arrival of their food a few minutes later lightens their conversation, interspersed with commentary on the food itself – which is actually _quite_ good, although the fact a relatively new restaurant was totally booked out on a Thursday night made that less of a surprise. They remain in the restaurant for a while after finishing, but they eventually elect not to have dessert, instead deciding to head back to their apartment. Courtney tries to step forward and pay before he does, but he stops her, eyes pleading to let him do it – so she does.

“That was lovely, but also I kind of want a milkshake,” Shayne comments as they walk along the street from the restaurant back towards his car after.

“I like how you think,” Courtney laughs, “there’s that very LA fake diner a couple streets away, as fake as they are, they do a decent milkshake – you wanna go via there before we head home? My treat, since you keep buying things for me.”

“Okay,” Shayne grins, shifting his gait so he is walking slightly closer to her.

“Caramel?” Courtney prompts, as they wait in the short line inside the diner, glancing up at the menu.

“Yeah, I’m predictable,” Shayne nods, “but so are you, mocha?”

“Definitely,” Courtney grins, hand not leaving his as she steps up to the counter to order.

They take a booth in the back corner with their milkshakes, electing to continue their night out. They are a tiny bit overdressed for the location, but it just makes them want to have even more fun, throwing jokes and teasing at each other as they enjoy their impromptu deserts.

“Part of me can’t believe that night up in the mountains in the back of the truck actually happened,” Courtney grins, taking an unapologetically loud sip from her straw. “Glad it did, though.”

“It was a little bizarre,” Shayne laughs at his own word choice, “I don’t know how I went from my reserved, terrified self to effectively asking if you wanted to have sex… I know why I told you I’m in love with you, I had the sudden fear I’d thrown us into a friends with benefits thing that would’ve wrecked me emotionally.”

“We could _never_ maintain something like that, there are way too many feelings involved – there was even back then,” she smiles lightly, “I am very thankful for your sudden burst of confidence over milkshakes.”

“That feeling of sitting in the back of the truck with you above the city in the middle of nowhere, with the quiet and just nothing but us around… I think that gave me the confidence. I’m so comfortable with you – I was then, even more so now, for obvious reasons,” Shayne admits, “even though I was low key scared of where we were itself.”

“You were, weren’t you?” she laughs, “I wouldn’t let anything hurt you. I mean, I don’t exactly know _how_ I’d protect you from a mountain lion or a creepy LA forest monster, but… I’d try?”

“Let’s just not get into any fights with creepy forest monsters anywhere, hey?” Shayne suggests, as an alternative, Courtney pausing for a second in fake contemplation.

“Okay – but I am still up for that relaxed middle of nowhere forget everything else holiday we talked about on the plane to Australia.”

“Oh, definitely. We should start looking up places this weekend, see what exists,” he suggests, Courtney nodding in confirmation.

“Are we thinking US or elsewhere?”

“I don’t really mind where, but it might be easier and more relaxing if we can keep it within a few hours’ flight at most,” Shayne shrugs, “I know there’s all the fancy places down Huntington Beach and Newport way, but I think I want to get a bit further from LA than that.”

“Yeah, we definitely need to get out of LA. I’m thinking like… mountain spa retreat. Or beach. Which, I guess, are the two opposite extremes of destination, but…” Courtney shrugs.

“Either of those sound good,” Shayne laughs, “you almost finished that milkshake?”

“Yeah, let’s head home?” she suggests, “I want to get closer to you than we can right now.”

“You _always_ want to get closer to me,” he teases as they stand up, hands linking as they walk towards the door, “not that I’m complaining.”

“Everyone thinks I’m into you because you’re shredded AF with the six pack and everything, but actually I like the muscles because it means you give the _best_ cuddles,” she reinforces, as they wander back to their car just slightly down the street.

“You sure you’re not a tiny bit into me for the other reason too?” he jokes, stopping beside the car to open her door for her, before moving around to the drivers’ side.

“Oh baby, you are _the_ hottest person I’ve ever seen,” she tells him, matter-of-factly, when he slides into the car, “can’t say I don’t love watching you work out. It’s like 50% of the reason I go to the gym with you so often.”

“Oh, I know,” he laughs, “I can’t say some of my motivation for asking you to come with me isn’t in the same place.”

“Oh, I think I get where all your motivation for cumming together is, don’t worry,” she shoots back. He laughs loudly in response, glancing over at her briefly and scrunching up his face.

“You _know_ that’s not what I meant.”

Their banter continues back and forth for the twenty minutes’ drive back to their apartment, and they fall into their usual routine when they arrive home, Courtney taking the key to unlock the door while Shayne locks the car and follows in behind her.

“Just putting my jacket away, I’ll be there in a sec,” Shayne tells her, when she immediately sits down at one end of the couch and looks expectantly up at him. She nods in acceptance, murmuring a thank you when he also grabs her small bag and carries it to its home in their bedroom. He pulls open the closet, shrugging off his jacket and putting it back on its hanger, before reaching into the back of the shelf where he keeps his jeans and pulling out the box.

He has a moment of panic – it’s too large to fit in his pocket without her noticing. He can’t blow it all _right now_.

He takes a deep breath, box cradled gently in his hand as he pulls the closet door closed again and peers through their bedroom door out into the living room. To his relief, Courtney is distracted, typing out something on her phone. He uses the distraction to quietly walk out, box still cradled in his hand held slightly behind his back, until he sits down on the couch beside her and immediately pushes the box underneath one of the throw pillows up the opposite end of the couch.


	54. Chapter 50: Extremely and Not At All

“Who you texting?” he asks, arms looping around her shoulders as she briefly leans forward to put her phone face-down on the coffee table before shifting around to settle in his arms.

“My Dad sent me a long text about very little, I am not entirely sure what to reply so I have no problem with leaving replying until tomorrow,” she laughs, before leaning up to press a kiss to his lips. “Thank you for tonight. It was really nice.”

“Thank you for suggesting we go out properly again. I do love our quiet routine here, but it’s nice to get a little dressed up and go out sometimes,” he answers, letting his tone soften as he relaxes against her.

“Gotta make use of my own clothes occasionally instead of just wearing yours,” she jokes, Shayne laughing lightly in response.

“Why do you wear my shirts so much?”

“They’re comfy and soft and it’s kind of comforting to wear something oversized. Also, they smell like you, and if I try hard enough it kind of feels like you’re hugging me when I wear them,” she admits, “which I know doesn’t explain why I wear your shirts while you are actually hugging me, but…”

“I don’t mind at all, for the record,” he responds, “you’re kind of adorable in them. If I could wear something of yours all the time to pretend you’re hugging me constantly I probably would, too.”

“I don’t know if I have anything like that. Instead you just gravitate towards me constantly,” she muses, “don’t think I didn’t feel your hand behind my shoulder when we were filming the other day, or that I don’t see the way you gradually move your chair over to my side of your desk throughout every day.”

“I didn’t know if you’d noticed the chair thing. It’s entirely subconscious,” he pauses, for a moment, moving his right arm to cup her cheek, “it works, though, because you are kinda the centre of my universe.”

“Cheesy,” she whispers, a hint of a teasing smile on her face before she leans over to press a soft kiss against his lips.

“Yes, but I absolutely mean it,” he responds when they pull back.

“Hmm, you’re kind of the centre of mine, too,” she whispers softly, shifting to allow her head to come to rest against his chest, just over his heart.

They sit pressed together in comfortable silence for a moment, Shayne trying to find the last little bit of nerve he needs to step over that point of no return – as if he hadn’t been past that point with her since day one, as if he wasn’t wholly and completely trusting in her love for him as much as he loved her. As if he didn’t know they were both already committed and comfortable- his train of thought pauses on one specific realisation: he _has_ the nerve. He wants to do this, he just needs to actually do it. Still, he feels a wave of anxiety suddenly crash over him.

“Why is your heart racing?” she breaks their comfortable silence a moment later with a soft, caring whisper, one of concern more than accusation. It gives him a chance, and he latches on.

“Because I’m about to do something both extremely and not at all terrifying,” he answers her, his own voice barely audible. He sees the recognition in her eyes, and then he sees her try to hide it with a raised eyebrow. Shayne reluctantly lets his hand fall from her to reach behind himself, immediately locking on the box and pulling it towards himself, before finally lifting it up to sit on his thigh, just beside her own.

“Shayne,” she whispers, grip around him tightening as her eyes fill with – happy – tears and she lifts her head up to meet his eyes.

“Courtney, we’ve spent the last few hours talking about our love and our lives together, so I’ll keep this short and simple. I love you, I want to spend my life with you, and I’m ready to make that a little more official,” he tells her, pushing some semblance of confidence into his voice before he pauses, flipping open the lid of the box and holding it up between them, turned to face her, “will you marry me?”

She gasps audibly somewhere between him flicking open the box and saying those four words, tears immediately starting to fall down her cheeks as she presses ever closer to him.

“Yes,” her answer is as immediate as she can manage, her voice cracking slightly before she lets herself bury her face against the shoulder of his shirt, his own tears now also running down his face as he holds her as tightly as he can with one arm, the other still gripping the ring box between them.

“Can I put this on you?” he speaks again, a moment later, Courtney immediately nodding and pulling her face back from his shoulder, wiping under her own eyes as she takes a series of deep breaths to try and pull her emotions under control.

“I’m sorry, I just- I’m so happy,” she murmurs, Shayne quickly shaking his head.

“Hey, no apologies, I’m crying too for the same reason,” he tells her softly, voice cracking slightly as if confirming his words.

He gently pulls the ring out of the box, discarding the box itself quickly onto the couch behind him again as she holds out her left hand for him. He feels a fresh wave of tears rushing against his eyes as he slides the ring onto her left ring finger, fitting perfectly in its place just below her first knuckle. Courtney looks down, for a moment, gaze briefly fixed on the ring, but her hands quickly move to cup his cheeks as she pulls him into a firm kiss.

“I love you, I love you, I love you,” she murmurs between kisses, barely shifting away from his lips each time. He kisses back with as much intensity, feeling the coolness of the thin gold band against his cheek where she is holding it. His own arms wrap tightly around her, gradually prompting her to shift directly onto his lap, until eventually she pulls back ever so slightly, forehead still pressed against his.

“Did I manage to surprise you?” he asks, carefully, after they both regain their breath.

“Yes. I think I knew it was coming sometime soon, but I had _no_ idea when,” she replies, tone remaining soft but light, full of clear and unmasked joy, “I kind of worked out you’d started looking for a ring back in January. You got really touchy before you went to spend time with Damien and you made some elaborate excuses for spending time with him, I would’ve been less suspicious if you just said you were hanging out.”

“I tried _so_ hard to stay quiet when I was in the process of getting it. I did first look in January, but I didn’t actually have it until mid-March… do you like it?” his tone turns mildly hesitant, but she immediately nods.

“It’s perfect, baby,” she shifts back, letting her left hand fall to his chest between them so she can examine the ring, “if you asked me four hours ago what I wanted my engagement ring to look like I wouldn’t know, but this is it. This is exactly it.”

“I’m so glad. I might have cried when I picked it up because it felt so right,” he admits, Courtney laughing softly.

“I wish I’d seen that. Did you do all your looking alone?”

“No, I actually took Damien the first time because I was so terrified and overwhelmed at that initial point. He was with me when I picked it up, too – and Kari was with me when I made the decision on what I wanted,” he explains.

“Wait – Kari? Seriously? You are such a sweetheart,” she pushes forward to press another kiss against his lips, “did anyone else know you were planning on asking?”

“No one knew _when_ I was planning on asking, not even Damien – but Chris vaguely knew, and I did the traditional thing and I talked to your Dad back in January,” Shayne admits, “I wanted to do everything I possibly could for this because it’s just… so special to me. You’re so special.”

“You are the most perfect boyfr-“ she cuts herself off, smile widening, “well, I guess now you’re the most perfect fiancé ever.”

“Anything for you. Forever,” he replies, letting his own smile widen as they stare into each other’s eyes.

“Holy shit, we’re _engaged_ ,” Courtney emphasises, a moment later, hands moving to grip his shoulders before she falls forward against him and presses their lips together into a kiss much deeper than those they had shared just prior.

“We are absolutely fucking engaged,” he repeats her emphasis when he has to break their kiss to breathe, before drawing her back into a deep kiss that soon has their hands inching towards shirts.

“Wait, wait,” Courtney mumbles, reluctantly pulling back from Shayne’s lips sometime later, “I desperately want you right now, trust me, but once your shirt is off we won’t be out of bed until tomorrow and-“

“We need to get at least one photo tonight,” he finishes her sentence for her, as she nods in agreement. “Do you want to tell anyone?”

“No. That can wait until the morning - but we need this photo, because I want some visual evidence of tonight itself,” Courtney admits, reaching for her phone. They don’t put too much effort into it, instead falling into the first pose that comes naturally, wrapped messily and tightly around each other as their eyes meet. Shayne takes the phone, Courtney bringing her left hand up to cup his cheek so the ring will be front and centre of the photo he takes. They look at it briefly, just to check, but it’s perfect too - despite the just-visible tear lines in her makeup, thank god she used waterproof eyeliner - and the phone is quickly discarded back onto the coffee table.

They don’t rush this time. Their kisses resume as soft and light, building slowly to the deepest intensity they can find. Shayne is the first one to let his hands wander underneath her shirt, and his touch burns with a pleasant intensity that just makes her want more, more, more.

“Come to bed, love?” She requests a moment later, her own hands still gripping his cheeks with a gentle touch. He nods almost imperceptibly as they stand up, shirts pulled off before they reach their goal. He has an idea, then, as they kiss at the foot of their bed, and it leads him to run his hands down her body until he is able to gently pick her up, fully into his arms, one around her back as the other rests under her legs. She laughs first in response, as her arms loops around his neck before her lips again crash to his for another firm kiss. He responds by carrying her forward to gently lay her down on the bed, his own body crawling up to settle over her.


	55. Chapter 50 Part 2: EXPLICIT CONTENT (Optional)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short one this time.

“I want to kiss every inch of you,” he whispers to her, starting with her face. His touches are slow and attentive, and he matches his statement, lips and fingertips tracing over seemingly every part of her body to map its lines and contours as the rest of their clothing is gradually discarded.

For her part, she runs her own hands along the lines of his body, taking care to protect the ring on her hand because she sure as hell doesn’t want to take it off even for this.

He presses his lips between her legs, as the last point on his covering of her body. It makes her desire rapidly accelerate and she can’t prevent the low moan in response, but she still pushes herself to be patient, eyes forced open as she stares down her body to watch him push his tongue through her labia. Despite her best efforts, she can only hold off for so long, her hands moving down to knot in his hair and her thighs wrapping around him to keep him in place as a particularly well-placed scrape of his teeth causes her to slam her eyes shut and tilt her head back into the pillow behind her. It spurs him on to speed up slightly, finally hitting a pattern which has her coming hard only a minute later.

“Come here,” she requests, the second she regains her breath. He complies immediately, crawling back up the bed to let himself rest fully on top of her, melting their bodies into one.

She can feel his erection pressing against her thigh and neither of them manage to hold out for more than a few minutes before he is slowly pushing himself inside of her. They cry out in unison when he bottoms out, and he sets a gentle, deliberate pace as he starts thrusting. She grinds back against him with each thrust, neither holding back the gasps and cries of pleasure they feel as they build towards a mutual finish. They come together with a series of moans, his eyes pricking with tears as they do. He’s never cried during sex before, but he figures if he’s ever going to then it’s not exactly surprising that it’s tonight. She doesn’t tease, instead reaching up to brush her thumb under his eye to clear his tears and looking at him with the utmost love and care.


	56. Chapter 51: Exciting

They wake at almost the same moment the following morning, still pressed tightly against each other. She’d fallen asleep before thinking to take the ring off, but her subconscious had evidently protected it through the night as her left hand rested gently on his shoulder over the top of the covers.

“Hey, beautiful,” he breaks their comfortable silence a few moments after they wake, both shifting slightly into a more comfortable position to talk.

“Hi,” she answers softly, bringing her left hand down to rest on the pillow they’re sharing, between them.

“We’re engaged,” he grins, moving his own hand to wrap around hers, thumb resting just below the ring.

“We are and I am so fucking happy,” she smiles just as widely, “when we going to start telling people?”

“I guess now? I want to tell our families,” he admits, “I wish our phones weren’t in the other room.”

“I’ll get them, don’t move,” she answers, reluctantly rolling out of bed and wandering across the apartment to grab her own phone from the coffee table and his from the kitchen bench. She immediately slides back under the covers and into his arms when she returns, handing his phone to him in the process.

“Can I take another photo of just our hands, to send to the family?” Shayne requests, and she nods. They twist around slightly, hands reaching up to have the plain ceiling in the background. Courtney’s hand sits in front of his, ring clearly visible, while he holds onto her hand with his thumb resting just below the ring.

“Send it to me?” She requests, and he does just that, before flicking into his group text with his parents, brothers, Julie and Courtney. He attaches the picture first, toying with the idea of sending it without a caption for a moment as his thumb hovers over the keyboard, until he decides on something simple.

“I asked last night. We’re engaged,” he types, pausing before he hits send.

“I think my Mum is going to want to call us the second she sees the message, that cool with you and you want to send yours first?” He asks, Courtney laughing lightly and nodding.

“Shayne & I are engaged,” she types her own simple message, sending it separately with the attached photo to each of her parents. She figures she’ll leave the bulk of her family for later - they’re not as close - but she hesitates a little over her message to Kari.

“He asked me last night. I said yes (of course). I’ve never been this happy in my life,” she types, eventually, pressing send. Her parents both send through excited congratulations as she sends Kari’s message, and she shows them to Shayne before resting her own phone on the bed between them and gesturing towards his.

“Congrats guys!!! So happy for you!” Chris’ reply comes within thirty seconds of Shayne hitting send on his message to their family group chat, immediately followed by Dianne.

“Is now an okay time to call?”

Courtney laughs at her predictability as Shayne switches to his solo contact with his mother and presses call to ring her first, immediately switching to speaker phone.

“Oh my god, my darlings!” Diane starts, clearly crying the second she answers the phone, “I’m so happy for you.”

“Thanks, Mum,” Shayne answers.

“We’re really happy, too,” Courtney adds, letting her voice turn more affectionate than she usually would in front of family.

“Your Dad is crying too Shayne, don’t let him pretend he isn’t- he told me you were planning soon, but we weren’t sure when, and oh my god this is so wonderful,” she rambles, her voice full of emotion.

“I’ve cried so much at this - I even cried when I picked the final ring up,” Shayne admits, “but I’ve never been this happy in my life. We’re so excited.”

“It’s such a gorgeous ring, Courtney, it looks like it was designed for you,” she speaks, and Shayne laughs lightly.

“It kind of was. I... couldn’t find something I was 100% fixed on, so it was a custom design because it needed to be perfect,” he admits, “I don’t think I actually mentioned that last night.”

“You didn’t, but you implied,” Courtney answers lightly, “It’s absolutely stunning. I didn’t even know what I wanted my engagement ring to look like but somehow he did and it’s perfect.”

“That is gorgeous- your Dad wants me to hand over the phone, just a sec,” Dianne pauses, clearly handing the phone over to her husband.

“Don’t let her lie to you, I’m not crying- well, only a little,” he answers the phone, gruff defensiveness giving way to a clear emotional lightness, “I just wanted to pass on my congratulations to both of you. We see how happy you are together and we’re so excited you’re making your commitment that little bit more formal.”

“Thanks, Dad, you’re making me cry again,” Shayne answers with a choked back laugh.

“Thank you, Rob,” Courtney responds, reaching over to wipe at the tears running down Shayne’s face again.

“We’ll have to catch up sometime soon, okay? I’ll let you organise it with your mother, but soon?” Rob pushes, before handing the phone back to Dianne.

“He’s right, we have to catch up, I want to see this ring in person,” Dianne confirms, “also, just so we know - who is going to find out about this?”

“We haven’t actually discussed that,” Shayne admits, eyes glancing up to meet Courtney’s.

“Family and friends first. For now, we’ve just told our closest family,” Courtney starts, silently discussing with Shayne.

“We will probably go public with it before the end of today,” Shayne adds, understanding her silent message, “we’ll post something on Instagram when we do.”

“I don’t think we’ll be able to keep it quiet for long since I never want to take this ring off,” Courtney jokes.

“I don’t blame you honey, it’s beautiful - and hey, I still wear my engagement ring every single day and he asked me 40 years ago,” Dianne answers.

They hang up not long later, reluctantly pulling themselves out of bed to get ready for the day. Courtney has to fight with herself for a full minute to actually take the ring off and sit it on the top of the dresser in their bedroom so she can shower, but she manages, reminding herself that it’s a few minutes, and then she gets to wear it all day and for the rest of her life. And that’s kind of cool.

She has a string of excited messages from Kari when she checks her phone again over breakfast, immediately shifting her phone across the table to Shayne to show him.

“omg!!!! Finally!!!!!” the first message is straight to the point.

“Did he tell you he asked me to go ring shopping with him? Because he did, he’s so damn considerate of you and what matters to you.”

“Also dude you are not fooling me with the ceiling picture the morning after I know what you did last night put some clothes on **side eyes**”

“but for real congrats to both of you let’s catch up soon so I can see this ring in person??? <3 <3”

“Oh, Kari,” Shayne laughs, reading through the string of messages. “She came to the jewellery store with me the second time. The first time when I took Damien, I was kind of just… dipping my toe in the water, I guess? I was totally overwhelmed by the whole idea, I didn’t know what I was looking for and it was just… trying to get a start, I guess?”

She nods, quietly, prompting him to continue his explanation.

“First place we tried was terrifying, felt so out of place, but this second one- this sales assistant, Abby, was right onto it, no pressure, explained everything I needed and tried to help me start narrowing down what I was looking for,” Shayne pauses, not having originally intended to go through the whole story, but he figures he may as well, “We were there for ages and we got close but nothing was quite matching what I wanted, so she suggested a custom design, and yeah… Did a sketch that first visit, and had a 3D computer model of it when Kari accompanied me. Had another visit in February just before we went to Australia to finalise the actual diamonds, then picked it up mid-March. Also… I don’t know _why_ I just told you all of that, but I think the whole time I’ve been anxious because I just wanted to talk about it all with _you_ because I want to tell you everything always.”

“That is all _super_ cool and I have absolutely no problem with you telling me about it now,” Courtney grins, “I can’t believe you helped design a custom engagement ring for me but at the same time, yeah, that’s absolutely something you’d do and I love you for it.”

“I love you too, baby. What’s our plan for work today?” Shayne shifts their conversation slightly, and she shrugs.

“I think I want to straight up tell Liv – and Damien, if you haven’t already – but I kind of want to play a game with everyone else, not saying anything and see if they notice. Or if one of us gives it away,” Courtney grins, Shayne nodding in agreement.

Courtney offers to drive them to work when they eventually have to leave, Shayne sitting in the passenger seat twisted so he can keep his eyes on her. He pulls open a group chat with Damien, Liv, Courtney and himself when they’re about ten minutes away and sends them a message, at Courtney’s suggestion.

“Hey guys, meet us outside work in like ten before we head in for the day?” he types, simply, not elaborating. Liv sends a thumbs up and an alien head in acknowledgement, Damien following with a ‘Sure’.

Most of the team is already there when they arrive, which means there’s no one milling around their small parking lot, thankfully. Damien steps out of the building by himself just as they pull into a parking space, Liv arriving only thirty seconds later.

“Liv might literally scream, we gotta somehow tell her to keep quiet first,” Courtney grins as she turns the key in the ignition to switch off her car.

“You’re going to get very good at being aware of where your left hand is today,” Shayne laughs, before they both open their doors and step out.

“Keep quiet, Liv, that’s mostly at you,” Courtney warns as they all walk to meet a few steps away from their car, Courtney’s right hand linked with Shayne’s left beside her, her left conveniently sitting behind herself.

“Okay but what am I keeping quiet about?” Liv queries.

Courtney knows she’s smiling like an idiot, but she can’t help it, pointedly lifting her left hand up, palm facing herself, to show them the ring.

“We’re engaged,” Shayne speaks up, as she does, and she lets her eyes shoot to meet his. He’s grinning just as widely as she is, hand tightening in hers.

“Oh my god, guys,” Liv squeals under her breath – at least she stayed quiet, Courtney guesses – “congratulations!”

“Congratulations, guys, that’s so exciting,” Damien reinforces, pausing for a moment before he steps forward and brings all four of them into a group hug. It causes all of them to laugh, and when they pull back, Shayne and Courtney keep arms wrapped around each other’s waists.

“Can I see?” Olivia gestures towards Courtney’s hand, and she nods, holding it out in front of her. “Oh, wow, that’s _gorgeous_. Who knew Shayne was good at picking jewellery?!”

“He’ll dismiss that, but I was there when he was first looking, he just instinctively knew what he was doing,” Damien agrees, Shayne blushing and brushing off their comments.

“We’re going to play a little game with everyone else, not say anything, just see how long it takes them to notice – but we wanted to actually tell you guys, best friend treatment and all,” Courtney explains, reclaiming her hand as she redirects the conversation slightly.

“Ooh, that could be fun. We’ll keep quiet,” Damien nods, “and we should all probably head in before someone comes out here and sees us.”


	57. Chapter 52: Distracted

Shayne, Courtney, Damien and Olivia head inside together, casually walking into the office and each moving to their own desks to set down their things. Courtney doesn’t let go of Shayne’s hand until they’re actively sitting at their desks – not that it’s abnormal for her to do that – and she doesn’t make a point to hide her left hand, but she is aware of where it rests, and she doesn’t flash it in front of everyone. They say generic greetings to everyone around them as they all settle into start-of-day work, Courtney and Shayne both scrolling through unread emails for the thirty minutes before they have to go into the large meeting room for a mid-month production meeting.

It’s not the most _interesting_ of their meetings, to say the least, but it’s important. It’s a little bit technical, it covers strategy and planning and managing scheduling and guest appearances over the next few weeks. Which all matters, of course, but it’s less engaging than when they’re actually talking about content, which is what their jobs are more focussed on.

Courtney is about thirty seconds short of zoning out completely, 30 minutes deep in the meeting – so sue her, they’d kind of had a late night the previous night and she was a _little_ distracted – when she feels eyes burning into her from diagonally across the long table. She looks around as casually as she can to find Sarah looking rapidly between her and Shayne. Sarah glances down towards the table when she notices Courtney looking back at her, Courtney following her gaze down to see her tapping lightly against her own engagement ring on her left hand before her eyes flick back up with a silent question.

Courtney simply smiles, giving the tiniest nod she can manage as she knots her own hands together on the table in front of her, left in front.

Their next discovery comes a further ten minutes later, when she feels Shayne subtly pushing a folded piece of paper against her arm. She pulls it into her notebook in front of her and lets it fall open, revealing a rough sketch of a diamond ring – not hers, but clearly an engagement ring – with two question marks, ‘Shayne + Courtney’ and a hand-drawn surprised emoji beside it. ‘Tim’ is written below the image, in what she recognises as Shayne’s handwriting. It makes sense, given Tim is sitting beside him. Courtney pulls out her own pen, glancing up towards Matt for a moment before she looks down again to start writing as if she’s genuinely taking a work-related note.

“Sarah saw too, I’m just waiting for it to be someone who will see and SAY SOMETHING – not exactly hiding over here ;),” she scrawls out on an empty space in the top corner, before folding the note again and sliding it back under her own arm towards Shayne.

Monica is the next person Courtney catches staring, sitting beside Damien a few places from Sarah, more directly opposite them. She raises an eyebrow at Courtney, before leaning over to whisper to Damien. Damien doesn’t say anything, merely smirking, but Courtney figures the bright, sparkling ring sitting prominently on her finger is probably enough of a tell.

It seems to grow exponentially from there. Kimmy looks to Damien for confirmation, on his other side, evidently getting it as she glances back over and grins widely at them. Tommy whispers something to Tim over to Shayne’s side, one of their other writers directly across the table from them openly giggles when Garret says something under his breath, and Liv jabs Courtney in the arm before indicating up beside her to their other group of producers and editors sitting closer up towards Ian and Matt at the head of the table.

“Okay, seriously, do we need to give you all a break? What’s all this whispering?” Ian steps in, in the middle of one of his own sentences. He _looks_ like he’s attempting to be annoyed, but mostly, it comes across as confused and left out of the joke. “Am I missing something funny?”

“Not funny, per se,” Sarah speaks up, “go on, it’s a Friday, we’re all just a little restless. I’m sure everyone’s listening.”

“If you’re sure,” Ian sighs, before continuing on.

Sarah’s complete brushing off of what at least 80% of the room is now focussed on makes Courtney laugh silently, to the point she has to put her hand in front of her face to hide it, inadvertently using her left hand to do so. Her eyes widen when she sees Matt’s gaze lock onto her – but he too doesn’t say anything, instead sitting down in his own seat and leaning over to whisper to Sarah.

“Seriously? Matt too? What the hell, I’m not even mad you’re distracted, I’m just-what am I missing?” Ian stops again, a moment later, frustration evident in his voice. “Is there something on my face? Are you all laughing at me?”

“It’s not about you at _all_ Ian, don’t worry – but like, is there anyone _other_ than Ian who hasn’t got it yet?” Damien speaks up, voice full of sass.

“Oh, yeah, no idea what everyone’s muttering about,” Shayne deadpans, holding a straight face for ten seconds before he starts laughing, turning towards Courtney to hide his own face in his hands too.

“You’ll get it eventually, Ian,” Courtney speaks up, elbow on the table and head resting in her left palm, fingers sitting flat against her cheek. She’s trying extremely hard to avoid laughing, now, Ian somehow still missing her ring when it’s right in front of her face. He doesn’t speak, immediately, stepping back from the table and turning around to the board behind him to look at his own notes, trying to find something in there everyone is laughing at.

“I seriously don’t get it,” he complains, still facing away from them. Courtney feels Shayne shift closer beside her, and she glances back over at him to see a question in his eyes she can only answer with a replying gaze of yes, she does want to fuck with Ian.

She moves her own chair closer towards Shayne, turning back towards him and letting his left hand wrap around hers, their entwined hands sitting explicitly and obviously in front of them, ring in clear sight. It causes a ripple of laughter around the rest of the table, and Ian turns around, seeming to look at everybody _but_ them before he sits back down in his own chair, long ago abandoned, and flips through his stack of papers.

“Is someone gonna tell him?” Kimmy speaks up, after a moment, and although her question is intentionally broad, everyone – except Ian, they guess – knows who she’s really asking.

“Nah, no one tell him, I’m sure President Ian will figure it out eventually, he’s smart,” Courtney muses, not able to keep the humour out of her voice.

“Thank you, Courtney, but can someone at least give me a hint?” he answers, still not looking up.

“Ian, if we gave you any more hints we would literally be telling you,” Shayne laughs, although he glances to meet Courtney’s eyes for a moment before lifting his right hand up to explicitly, directly, point at the ring on Courtney’s finger.

It causes another wave of laughter around the room, louder than the last one, and Ian finally glances back up – although still not directly at Shayne and Courtney, his eyes running wildly across all the faces present.

“The only thing I can see is you two getting all touchy but that’s nothing new- wait!” Ian calls, suddenly, his eyes finally landing directly on their entwined hands. The room erupts in laughter at his response, while Shayne and Courtney pull their hands out of the weird, overtly hinting position they’d got them in to shift closer, Shayne’s arm wrapping around her shoulders.

“Yeah, so, we’re kind of engaged,” he speaks up, his tone somewhere between affectionate and still making fun of Ian’s ineptitude at realising what everyone else had noticed so much sooner.

His direct statement makes the room erupt into a buzz of noise, almost the entire team throwing them excited congratulations at once. All they can do is laugh, leaning against each other’s sides, and accept the positivity. Their Smosh family really is as close as their real families.

“I am _so_ okay with our meeting being interrupted now, I can’t believe- well, no, I totally can believe it,” Ian laughs, “when did it happen?”

“Last night,” Courtney answers, nodding slightly.

“So does that mean when you guys were talking about your Thursday date in that Jackbox shoot on Tuesday, Shayne was actually talking about proposing?” Tommy points out, and Shayne laughs.

“Yeah, kind of, although Court suggested the date in the first place and it just so happened I’d kind of mentally marked this week as when to ask. I might have been a tiny bit off in that shoot because I realised I was going to do it? Also I was _super_ bad in the EBE yesterday morning, I know.”

“Wait, why were you both super touchy yesterday morning then? Court too?” Ian pushes, Courtney shrugging.

“I don’t know, I mean, I know why he was now, but. I had no idea it was going to happen – I mean, in general, I knew it was soon, we’ve been talking about it for a while. But I just… was in a touchy mood, I guess. Which I mean, today, also, but sorry not sorry,” she laughs off the end of her statement. “Now, weren’t we here for some kind of meeting?”

“Right, right, yes,” Ian sighs, standing back up and stepping back from the table a little, “actually, I do have a _work_ specific follow up question guys – publicity? Because I know it took me a while, but if you’re wearing that-” he gestures towards her ring, her hands now sitting slightly more naturally on the table, “-in videos people are going to notice.”

“We’ll go public with it pretty much immediately. Honestly, the only reason we didn’t post something this morning is because friends and family had to come first, and that included making a joke out of trying to get all of you to realise before we actually said anything,” Shayne explains, with a nod and his usual joking grin.

“Obv I’ll take it off for characters and whatever but yeah, whatever we film from this point forward I’ll be wearing it, and we’ll throw a message on one of our Instagrams or somewhere about pre-recorded content not having it. It’ll effectively mean people will be able to work out when we filmed stuff for a little while, but, as long as that’s not a problem,” Courtney adds, with a shrug.

“All good, all good, we’re close to filming consecutively to posting times at the moment anyway,” Sarah confirms, before they move on with the rest of their meeting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ian is just the easiest to make fun of...
> 
> Also, heads up that there is a possibility I won't be able to get the next chapter up for close to a week, hence posting a day early today. Long story short: combination of planned internet outages in my suburb for major construction and a heavy work schedule may mean I get close to zero personal internet access this week.


	58. Chapter 53: By Popular Request

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Got a few minutes between work and late-night internet outage tonight so have an update at the worst possible time for people actually seeing it! (next chapter will be Saturday Australian time, or approximately Smosh Friday Stream time)

They finally finish fifteen minutes later and all return to their desks, although Courtney’s ability to actual get any work done is compromised by the amount of people coming over to get a closer look at her ring. Shayne seems to be in a near-permanent state of blushing at the comments he’s getting about picking it, but he gets more comfortable with the idea of talking openly about it as they move through the day. They send out a few more texts each, too, letting more friends from outside work, and in Courtney’s case, more family, know before it goes online.

“So, have we told all the necessary friends and the like before we Instagram it?” Courtney asks, as they both wander into the break room with their lunch a couple of hours later. One of the bean bags is free, and they immediately take it together, Courtney throwing her legs over the top of Shayne’s so they can fit more easily.

“Yeah. We both going to use the same picture?” Shayne requests, Courtney confirming as she opens up their messages to send it to his phone.

“Unless you can come up with another one to use, I think we have two options and I have Kari’s comment earlier in mind when I say maybe not the one we took this morning,” Courtney tilts her head to look straight at him, and he nods.

“You guys posting the news?” Damien prompts, bringing the other nearby people into the conversation, and they both nod as they flick through their phones.

“I dunno whether to go caption-less, simple caption, or long and honest,” Shayne muses as he hovers his thumb over his phone screen.

“What photo you got?” Sarah queries, Courtney quickly flipping her phone around and holding it out so everyone can see.

“Was that last night?” Damien asks as they all ‘aww’ slightly, Shayne nodding. He pauses fiddling with his own phone for a moment to lean over Courtney’s shoulder and watch what she types.

“We’re engaged, for real, and I couldn’t be happier. I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you, @shaynetopp.

Also stop leaning over my shoulder and caption your own damn post.

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3”

He laughs out loud as she finishes typing her caption and hits post, earning a questioning glance from most of the people around them.

“Go look at her post,” he explains, simply, before clicking out of the Instagram app and over to the camera, turning back to Courtney, “come on, I’m adding another photo to mine now.”

She laughs, letting her head lean against his shoulder as he wraps his free arm around her and holds the camera up over them to take a selfie. She makes a point of shifting her left hand up, palm laying flat against her own shoulder so the ring is clearly visible. Shayne switches back to Instagram, adding the second photo in and starting to type out his caption.

“Okay, so maybe I was watching you type your caption, but who’s on whose shoulder now? But for real…

We’re engaged and so, so, so happy. You are everything to me and I love you so much, @Co_Mill. Our life together is everything I could have ever wanted and it’s so exciting to know that I get to spend the rest of my life with you.

<3 <3 <3 <3 <3 to you too my angel-”

“Do not write that,” Courtney stops him, and he laughs, backspacing to finish with ‘to you too’ before he hits send.

“What wasn’t he allowed to type?” Sarah pushes, with a raised eyebrow.

“A _particular_ pet name that we do not use in public,” Courtney explains, with half a laugh to try and brush it off, “to be fair, he could have, it looks innocent enough. There’s just… context.”

The others around them let that conversation slide, thankfully, a few of them moving to immediately comment on their respective posts.

“Hey hey fam,” Ian wanders into the room with his own lunch a minute later, taking a free seat and dragging it over near Sarah, Damien, Liv, Shayne and Courtney.

“Hey Iannnnn,” Courtney drags out his name, teasing and pointing a lazy finger gun at him, before she gets and idea and pulls out her phone to open Instagram again and open stories. “Hey, Ian, what happened in our meeting this morning?” she asks, on video, zooming in on his face as the other three laugh near her.

“We had a productive planning meeting this morning and nothing of interest happened,” he answers, matter-of-factly, and Courtney quickly flicks the camera over to Damien.

“Damien, what happened in our meeting this morning?”

“Well, what happened in our meeting this morning was that Ian-“

“NOPE!” Ian calls out, cutting Damien off, and Courtney stops the video there and throws it up onto her story.

“You really going to leave it at that?” Sarah laughs, Courtney shaking her head before she flips the camera around into selfie mode, catching her and Shayne, and Sarah in the beanbag off to their side.

“Hey Sarah, do you think _you_ can explain what happened in our meeting this morning?”

“Well _someone_ got engaged last night and decided not to actually tell all of us and just wait and see who would notice,” she starts, Shayne grinning.

“That would be us.”

“Ooh, did everyone notice?” Courtney asks, for the video.

“Wellll Ian was trying to be a good serious boss up there talking about meeting things while the rest of us gradually realised you were wearing an engagement ring and started whispering to each other about it…” she trails off.

“I am a good serious boss! You were interrupting me!” Ian calls, in the background, Courtney flicking the camera to face him again.

“And I’m sure you didn’t get annoyed you were missing out on the joke and look down at the desk for five minutes instead of realising we were literally pointing at my hand, yeah?” Courtney jokes, Ian sighing.

“Okay, so it took me a _while_ but- I said it was an okay interruption once I did! Because it was!” he defends, Courtney laughing as she lets the recording end and throws it on her story too.

————————————————

They actually read some of the comments on their engagement announcements. There is a lot of general positivity, a little bit of commentary on the timing (they screw their noses up at that stuff, quickly letting it out of mind. They’d already had that conversation months ago), and a lot of comments about the ring itself. Courtney gets one of their editors’ help to take a careful close up video of her ring, moving her hand around under a nice lighting setup so it sparkles and glimmers to its full potential. She posts it later that evening.

“By popular request & some vid assistance from Kevin the Smosh Shredditor - yes, my engagement ring is GORGEOUS, and custom designed. Shayne claims he was clueless trying to buy a ring, I’m not so convinced…”

Shayne, for his part, reposts her video to his story, defending his cluelessness as he does.

The biggest thing that ends up coming, though, is the questions. Why now? When will they be getting actually married? How did he propose? How did they even get together in the first place, since they’ve never actually covered that one?

It leads Courtney and Shayne to have a discussion while they’re relaxing at home over the weekend, that itself finds its way into their next Smoshcast meeting the following Monday morning.

“We’re doing a shoot dood special, then the stupid debates one - we really need something a little more serious in there for week 3 from now,” Ian muses, flicking through a list in front of him, “but most of my ideas are rather silly.”

“Shayne and I were talking the other day...” Courtney starts, “we’re getting a LOT of questions these days. Maybe there’s a space for a ‘Shourtney opens up’ kinda podcast somewhere?”

“You’d definitely be okay with doing that?” Garret queries, and they both slowly nod.

“The thing we really want to avoid is just... putting ourselves on show for views. But at this point it’s not that, we are being more open in general but that’s meaning we get a lot of questions that maybe we’re okay to answer in a controlled environment like the podcast,” Shayne explains.

“If it’s not the way you want to go, that’s fine, we can do something personally instead, it’s just... something we’ve been talking about,” Courtney backs him up, with a slight nod.

“No, no, I think that actually is a good idea. I’ve seen questions too, honestly we’re all getting them and we all just kind of ignore it because it’s not our place to answer,” Ian nods, “how would we want to do this cast? It’s a little different to the one where you went public, yeah?”

“Would you consider having just you two on the podcast?” Garret jumps in, before either of them can answer.

“I think so, yeah, because if it’s going to be a whole ep on us then I’d prefer it was just us,” Shayne admits, “but like, if someone wants to be just off camera in case we need backup that’s cool I guess.”

“My only concern would be whether you get so caught up in talking to each other you forget where you are,” Damien admits, “and I’m not saying either of you are bad at your jobs now, it’s just that I don’t want you to accidentally end up saying more than you’re okay with because you’re talking to each other, not an audience.”

“I know what you mean, Dames, but I think we’d be fine. I mean, we always have a producer in when we record that, and the cameras across the tables themselves even if they’re fixed are still cameras,” Courtney explains, “so as much as it would be just us from the recording point of view – it’s not really just us.”

“Okay, so that’s our week 3 slightly more serious podcast then - Shourtney, with Shayne and Courtney?” Ian confirms, and they all nod.

————————————————

They have a try not to laugh to film later that Monday. It’s a fairly standard squad one, no guests or special tricks, and it’s nice. Olivia volunteers to sit out the front first, and as is often the case, she seems to find humour in the parts of their bits that aren’t even meant to be funny. Ian is next up, making some comment about how he is never going to laugh when he first sits down. He’s right, for the first try - Damien’s Burger Man poetry doesn’t quite get him, but Olivia succeeds on her turn by using Tim again and Tommy manages to make him say ‘what the fuck’, which they count as a success since he spits the water out to do so.

“This is a re-enactment of our morning meeting the day after we got engaged and Damien is Ian,” Courtney calls out, before walking out with Shayne, Damien and a handful of props that she sets on one stool, her and Shayne sitting on the two beside, opposite Damien.

“Business business business - why are you all LAUGHING? Is it at ME? Is there something on my FACE?” Damien calls, exaggerated, before flipping around and staring at the screen behind him. Courtney glances at Shayne pointedly before holding her left hand out in front of her face.

“You’ll get it Ian!” She encourages Damien, who turns back to face them but looks straight up at the ceiling. She picks up the genie bottle and holds it in front of her hand - in front of her ring - as Shayne leans over to point directly at it.

“I still can’t see anything!” Damien exaggerates again, wildly looking in every direction but straight ahead. Courtney switches out the bottle for the rubber chicken, and Ian finally breaks as Damien looks straight at them and yells something unintelligible.

“Come on guys it wasn’t THAT bad,” he defends himself as they start to wander behind the screen.

“It really was!” Tim calls from behind the cameras, earning his second laugh of the episode. Shayne, for his turn, also makes Ian laugh with the dumpster wizard, because why not?


	59. Chapter 54: Should've Listened

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is another chapter where I need to make it very clear that this is a fictional story about fake characters and is no way reflective of anyone whose likeness it borrows to create a character.
> 
> Also, TW: workplace harassment.

Shayne is in the hot seat next in their TNTL shoot, and Courtney sorts through the props backstage as Olivia and Ian take their turns, eventually finding something that gives her a very specific idea.

“This bit is kind of cheating because it’s an inside joke but that’s okay,” Courtney whispers up towards the backstage camera, copying Shayne’s own tactic from many episodes ago as she sets the kids angel halo on her head and grabs a milkshake cup in one hand, walking as casually as she possibly can out on to the stage beside him, quietly glad when he doesn’t look at her initially.

“Hey dude,” she starts, voice intentionally more casual and laidback than usual - she’s going for the skater dude vibe to tone down what she’s actually going to say -, “I’m like your guardian angel or whatever, want to get milkshakes on Thursday?”

He spits out the water the second she says the word angel and his eyes flick over her direction. She laughs, breaking character as soon as he spits and quickly pulling the halo off her head.

“Courtney that’s not fair!” He whines, although he’s laughing as he does, “that was like, three separate inside jokes rolled into one - but yes, let’s get milkshakes, a-”

“Ah no!” She cuts him off before he can say the word, hand shooting forward to cover his mouth. He licks the palm of her hand jokingly before she pulls away, but she chooses not to acknowledge it - too much innuendo, and also, she was probably meant to react in disgust and she just kind of forgot to - as she walks backstage, still laughing off her own joke. They move on, thankfully, continuing through a relatively fun rest of Shayne’s turn, and then Damien’s. The start of Courtney’s own turn is fine, too - she even manages to not spit at Shayne - until Ian’s up, second-to-last, and she hears him rattling through props as she waits with water in her mouth.

“No, Ian,” Shayne laughs from backstage, his tone quickly turning serious and setting off alarm bells in her mind, “Don’t, Ian, seriously, no. You can steal the milkshakes and the Thursday but not that.”

“Well she heard you say that so now she won’t laugh at those, silly,” Ian replies, starting to walk out.

“She won’t laugh at that either she-” Shayne is cut off by Ian stepping out.

“Oh hey, I think you lost your halo-“ he starts, holding out the kids halo from earlier towards her head, “guardian angel-!”

Her reaction is almost violent, shuddering as she spits out her water in disgust and steps off the chair, moving as far away from Ian as possible, off camera.

“No no no no Ian do not count that as a success actually cut this whole bit,” Courtney tells him, holding out her hands defensively to stop him moving any closer to her, “you should’ve listened to Shayne and definitely not said that ugh, no, this is gross”

“What? I was just playing off your bit?” Ian defends, confused, and she sighs.

“That wasn’t a bit to be played off. I mean, inside jokes, for one. But dude - I can refer to me however I want to, but if I didn’t even let Shayne say that word on camera - why do you think it’d be okay for you to?” She explains, exasperated, arms crossing protectively in front of herself.

“I mean, I don’t-“ he starts, before shrugging, still defensive. It makes her sigh, turn on her heel and walk towards the studio exit.

“I just need a moment,” she mumbles to their producer for the episode as she steps out and moves down the hall to an empty meeting room.

“Fucks sake Ian,” Shayne mutters, frustrated, as he steps out from behind the screen “just, maybe, you should listen to me about what’s not cool to say to my fiancé, okay?”

Shayne doesn’t say anything else as he too turns to step out of the studio and move down the hall.

“Don’t go after them,” Damien stops Ian, when he goes to move, “just... stop. Wait. Do you even know what you said?”

“I mean, I’m guessing angel is just some sappy pet name he calls her,” Ian shrugs, “I was just trying to make fun of them a little.”

“Dude, just admit you did something wrong and should’ve listened to Shayne? This is a shit hill to die on,” Olivia steps out, too, as the crew make themselves look busy behind the cameras, cut having been called and filming stopped the second Courtney requested it.

Shayne finds her sitting in one of the empty meeting rooms just near the studio, face buried in her hands. She doesn’t look up when he enters, but she recognises his footfall and she leans into his side when he closes the door and pulls up a seat beside her.

“Hey, Courtney, love, it’s okay,” he murmurs, arm wrapping around her shoulders as she cries lightly.

“I shouldn’t have made that joke, I knew we could play it off and it’d be fine but I should’ve thought of what someone else might do and that felt so gross to have him say that I’m scared I’ve ruined our thing,” she mumbles, and Shayne immediately shakes his head, hand running comfortingly across her arm.

“No, Court, it’s not on you. We all normally leave inside jokes we don’t understand alone, I don’t understand why he did that and what he was trying to do,” he reassures her, “and while I admit I absolutely hated him saying that - it doesn’t have to be ruined, okay? We can forget this ever happened. Or I’ll come up with something else. It’s going to be okay. I feel pretty damn angry with him at the moment, and it’s okay to be upset, but please don’t be upset with yourself?”

“Okay. Thank you,” she murmurs after a moment, with a long sigh, “I feel kind of violated. It’s... not sitting well with me. At all. And I’m guessing he didn’t have any idea what he was saying, I don’t think Ian would do that to us, but I’m still pissed at him.”

“I’m very, very sorry that you feel that way, but I understand why. I’m happy to do anything you’d like me to that might help, okay? Even if you don’t want me to touch you for a while,” Shayne murmurs softly, but she quickly shakes her head, pushing closer to him.

“No, I want you to be my protective boy. I know you tried to stop him, and I am so grateful you did,” she reinforces, “I think I have to tell him. I’m not going to be able to face him while I feel like this.”

“Always here to protect you if you need me, Court. And yeah, that’s reasonable. Would you like to talk to him now, or another time? Don’t worry about work or filming or anything, I’ll work that out. It’s just what you feel comfortable with,” Shayne responds, caring, gentle, and every word he says makes her feel a little bit safer again.

“I think I’d prefer to get it over with. Can you... go get him?” she asks, hesitantly, Shayne nodding and reluctantly standing up away from her.

“Do you want me to hold you while you talk to him?”

“No, I’d prefer you weren’t touching me when I say - vaguely anyway - what it is, but can you just... be closer to me than he is?” she requests, Shayne immediately nodding in confirmation before he steps out of the room and strides purposefully back to the studio.

“Is she okay? We can push filming off to tomorrow, no questions asked,” the producer steps up to him the second he walks into the room, but he holds up a hand to request quiet before anyone else says anything.

“Might still finish filming today, but we need a few more minutes, okay?” Shayne tells them, the crew and director nodding and moving to turn their attention elsewhere. “Ian - follow me, please.”

“Sure,” Ian replies, voice less defensive, but if anything, too light.

“She’s going to tell you what you did wrong but whatever you do, don’t touch her. At all. No hugs, no pats on the back, nothing,” Shayne warns him as they walk the few strides down the hallway. Shayne makes a point of stepping into the room before him, gesturing for Ian to stop at one side of the meeting table as he moves to the other, standing beside where she is now stood wringing her hands together. He feels her cringe in Ian’s presence, and he looks over to see her looking anywhere but him.

“What were you trying to do with that bit? Like, honestly, please tell me,” she breaks the silence, and her voice is level and clear but it has a tone Shayne hasn’t heard before, almost as if she is hiding behind herself.

“I thought maybe - that word - was some super cheesy, sappy pet name for you guys, and I was trying to tease you about that, I was kind of going for the laugh from embarrassment but- good embarrassment,” Ian explains, and Courtney nods, still not meeting his eyes. “I should’ve listened to Shayne. I know that now. I’m- you don’t need to tell me anything you don’t want to, I don’t want to invade your privacy, I did the wrong thing by pressing ahead with that when Shayne resisted and I’m so sorry,” Ian speaks up again, before she does, and she sighs.

“I’m glad you realise that now, but- unfortunately, as much as I don’t want to, I need to tell you this because I literally can’t look at you now,” Courtney starts, her voice still laced with caution. “That word is a... pet name, of sorts, but it has a very specific sexual context. We joke around about it, yes, but only I actually say it in public, he doesn’t because of the context. So to have my boss say it to me, playing off that context, even if you didn’t necessarily know what you were doing feels - especially when you specifically ignored him telling you not to say it - gross, and objectifying, and violating.”

“Shit,” Ian’s reply is immediate, and Shayne looks up to see him take a step backwards, away from them, “shit, I’m so sorry Courtney. I am so, so sorry. I had absolutely no idea, it didn’t even cross my mind it might be something like that and knowing that, there is no way I would say it. I never, ever want to make anyone feel like that, shit. I will give you as much space as you need for as long as you need.”

“Thank you, Ian,” she replies, tone ever so slightly lighter. She reaches out for Shayne’s hand, then, and he grips her hand tightly when they join. “I believe rationally that you didn’t mean it and you aren’t like that, but unfortunately I have particular experiences existing as a woman in this world and- it might take me a little while to feel safe around you again. But I’ll get there, as long as you give me reason to.”

“I totally understand that. I am going to pull away from you, not because I’m upset with you, but because it’s gotta be you that chooses to be okay around me again. It objectively sucks that the world is like that, but it is, I accept that,” Ian answers.

“Yeah. Good. I don’t know how the hell to film the rest of this episode now,” Courtney switches topic, her voice closer to normal as she glances up at Shayne.

“Currently paused TBD resumption. We can leave it to another day, or go ahead with the last bit today, but that’s your choice,” Shayne tells her, and she nods.

“Would be better to get it over with, it’s only another few minutes literally- but I am on the chair, and Ian has to do a bit,” she raises an eyebrow, finally glancing over to see him awkwardly looking down at the floor.

“Would it help if I did a bit that was with someone else, not focused on or about you at all?” He asks, cautious.

“Um, yeah, I think I could handle that.”

They wander back into the studio a few minutes later and throw on their acting personas, everyone pretending nothing had happened. Ian does a classroom bit with Damien, Olivia and Tommy as children while Shayne stands off to the side in her line of sight and out of view of the cameras, but she doesn’t laugh. She does, however, laugh at Damien playing an elitist prince, and they quickly transition through to the outro. She stays on the stool and participates in the outro, but Shayne is between her and Ian and the latter doesn’t speak.

“Okay, so like-“ Courtney starts, after cut is called, “we sorted it out with Ian, and let’s just all pretend nothing happened, okay?”

The others assent, and they move on with their day, Ian staying firmly in his office as they do. Courtney has to give him some credit – or at least, she chooses to do so –, because he becomes hyper-vigilant, not just around her, but around every woman in the office. It becomes part of his style, and ten days after the incident, they’re standing behind the cameras together between sections of an EBE shoot, waiting for the set to be changed.

“Hey, Ian?” she turns to him.

“Yeah, Court Bort?” He throws out her old nickname, and she grins.

“Can I hug you?” She queries, and he nods, although he doesn’t move until she reaches out to give him a quick hug. “Thanks, dude.”

“Gotta do the right thing, you know.”


	60. Chapter 55: Impulse Booking

They film another TNTL at the end of that same week of the incident, although Ian isn’t part of it at his own request – but they do have Noah and Keith back, and they have a rule: at least _one_ of everyone’s bits has to rely on no props at all.

Keith, for his prop-less attempt, mimes leaning in for the kiss with Noah, and ends up with water spat back all over his face – “worth the success!” he calls, while wiping desperately with his shirt to get rid of it. Olivia pretends to be her new dog when Shayne is in the chair, successfully making him laugh in incredulity as she races around the room on all fours, injuring herself in the process. Damien cheats with an inside joke against Shayne, and Noah attempts to recreate his weather report from a year ago with less success.

“I couldn’t spit this time without the raincoat – also, why is everyone picking me for the no props?” Shayne asks, after his turn, “it’s only like, what – Court and I who haven’t done the no-prop thing and we’re only two people in?”

Keith takes the seat next, followed by Damien. Courtney, for her part, uses her no-props round on Damien with a handful of bad puns and he actually laughs, sighing in resignation after he does so.

“Those were bad, dammit, Courtney.”

“You laughed!” she points out, grinning, before she steps back behind the divider to let someone else take their turn trying to make him laugh.

Her own turn in the hot seat is next, and she’s doing remarkably well at holding her water in, despite all the props now being in use for most of the others. She isn’t surprised, to say the least, when Shayne steps out for his turn, no props in hand, and takes a seat on the other stool that has been placed right beside her, turned to the side to face her.

“Unlike Damien I’m not cheating with an inside joke, but I guess I’m trying something different that we will cut if you’re not cool with it, but…” he tells her, voice tending a little softer than usual, and she can already feel herself smiling a little too much as she glances over and meets his eyes, recognising the affection in them before he continues speaking. “I still kind of can’t believe that we’re engaged and I put that ring on your finger. It’s kind of the best thing ever. And… we haven’t actually kissed on camera as ourselves before, just as characters. I don’t mind if we don’t, that’s up to you, just if there weren’t cameras I’d probably kiss you right now.”

She glances over at the cameras and pointedly rolls her eyes, although she’s smiling enough that water is starting to leak out of the corners of her mouth. She makes a split-second decision when she realises his time is definitely up but they’re not calling it anyway, leaning away from him to spit her water onto the floor before she turns and reaches over to cup his cheek and kiss him – briefly.

“Different worked,” she grins after they pull back, and he laughs, hand reaching up to squeeze hers for a second before he wanders back behind their screen to let the rest of her turn continue.

“Great, I gotta follow that,” Damien jokes from behind the divider before stepping out when she’s got another mouthful of water.

“Not to overshadow all the shippers and all, but didn’t you post a photo of you guys kissing on Instagram a few months back?” Noah points out, when they do the outro a little while later.

“Photo, yeah, no video though,” Shayne clarifies, before launching into an outro asking the audience to suggest different challenges for future episodes.

“Hey, remember when we said nothing much would change between us in videos?” Courtney jokes, after they cut, and Shayne laughs.

“Yeah, that was wrong.”

————————————————

They have a busy weekend, the following weekend. They each separately catch up with friends on the Saturday morning, both of them facing ample questioning about their recent engagement. The topic comes up again, although the questions are less persistent, when they finally catch up with Shayne’s parents for dinner on the Saturday evening.

“So, not to be nosy, but just out of interest… Are you intending a long or short engagement?” Dianne asks them, jumping back to the topic near the end of their meal.

“Probably kinda long, although we don’t really know, just kind of seeing what happens,” Shayne answers, glancing over at Courtney who nods in confirmation.

“We haven’t exactly discussed it yet, but we figured a while ago that we wouldn’t necessarily be rushing to plan a wedding as soon as we got engaged,” she adds.

“You think there’s much chance we’ll be able to meet any of your family before a wedding, Courtney?” Rob turns the question on her, and she tilts her head to the side in contemplation.

“We’ve been saying for a while that it’d be nice to introduce everyone somehow but we haven’t worked out how. We’d definitely like to, though,” she answers, and both Dianne and Rob give their support for the idea before their conversation again shifts elsewhere.

Courtney is out again on Sunday morning, much to her dismay. She still hadn’t had a chance to catch up with Kari since the engagement, and Kari was travelling around a bit around the start of Summer so it was her only opportunity to do so. She couldn’t really say no, despite the fact she just wanted a day at home with Shayne. For his part, he takes the day at home, needing to run through a bunch of lines for Goldbergs shooting the following week.

“How was Kari?” Shayne asks Courtney when she returns to their apartment in the early afternoon.

“Good, yeah. She says hi,” Courtney answers briefly, walking straight through the living room to their bedroom so she can change into yoga pants and a t-shirt, not planning on leaving the apartment again.

“Ugh, I’m tired,” she mumbles as she returns to their living area, lying down on the couch with her head shamelessly resting in his lap where he is sitting up one end. He had been memorising lines, but had pushed his script aside when she walked in the door.

“You comfortable there?” He teases, gently running one hand through her hair, letting his fingertips lightly press against her head as they move.

“Mmmm, with you doing that, for sure,” she answers, shuffling around a little to press closer against him. He continues playing with her hair as they fall into a comfortable silence, fingers spreading in disjointed patterns that he hopes are pleasant for her. Her soft sighs in response seem to approve.

“You know what this reminds me of?” He breaks their silence, keeping his voice gentle.

“Hmm?” She prompts him.

“We keep forgetting to look at that holiday,” he reminds her. It causes her to shift, lifting her head up and out of his lap and slowly sitting up. She immediately reaches for the laptop sitting on the table across from them - his - before pressing against his side again.

“Then let’s look, let’s plan it,” she answers, as she flips open the laptop in front of them, glancing to the side to see his soft smile in response.

“I like the idea of being pretty disconnected from our usual reality,” he muses as she pulls open Google and hovers the mouse over the search bar.

“I know at one point Hannah and a couple of other friends did the spa retreat thing over summer up in the Colorado mountains...” Courtney muses, referring to her best friend outside Smosh and remembering the trip she hadn’t been able to join two years earlier because of work commitments. She’d been annoyed at the time, although she didn’t know the other girls that went with Hannah quite as well and the whole thing was probably going to be so much better with her fiancé.

Fiancé. She was still getting used to that.

Shayne agrees with the Colorado idea, and they soon have a collection of tabs open with lists of possibilities and potential destinations. They skip over anything that describes itself as a wellness retreat - sure, they want relaxing, but not restricted and planned relaxing like some of those places - and skip over anything that looks too big and resort-style.

“Oh, that one looks nice- very magical hidden forest vibes,” Shayne gestures to a specific spa/hotel on the screen, Courtney nodding in agreement.

It has a full spa, it’s up a mountain although not too far from the airport they’d fly into, the rooms look big and they each have a hot tub and a balcony opening out into tranquil groves of trees. Plus, it’s a small enough facility that it seems quiet, but large enough to have all the features and facilities they could need.

“I like the look of this,” Courtney agrees, after a few minutes of sifting through their website, “almost enough to suggest impulse booking, but I guess we gotta ask for time off work first.”

“Oh, yeah, I guess we gotta do that. Hmph,” Shayne grumbles, having been ready to just straight up book the place without another thought. “When do we want to aim for, at least? Soon?”

“Yeah, soon,” Courtney nods, “I was also thinking... about the comments your parents made about meeting my family and things. D’you think we should have an engagement party of sorts, or at least, use it as an excuse to finally bring everyone together? I just ask because I think my Dad wanted to get everyone over to California sometime this summer anyway, so if your family was able to come down here too... maybe we should leave some time free to organise that?”

“I really like that idea, I wasn’t sure how we could make it work but if people are going to be around anyway - and I think Chris and family should be able to visit California again during the school summer break,” Shayne nods, “would we want to do this holiday before or after that? Because I think that might be more a July thing.”

“I guess we could aim for 4th of July holiday for the party thing, actually- I’d have to ask him, but I’m pretty sure we could have it at my Dad’s place,” Courtney comments, before turning to answer his question, “I think we try and do the holiday before - I wonder if we could get some time off early June?”

“I would’ve liked to suggest our anniversary in May but that’s too close. And I have Goldbergs around then and we both have filming stuff planned at Smosh - so, yeah, June sounds nice,” he agrees.

“Aw, cute, thinking of the anniversary,” she teases him, and he gives an almost-shy shrug.

“I don’t think I want to plan anything in particular for the anniversary - but I certainly want to celebrate it, because this has been the best year of my life,” he tells her.

“Mm, mine too,” she agrees.

————————————————

They both seek out their HR person first thing the next day, a couple of their producers who deal more closely with filming schedules also conveniently in earshot.

“What’s the chance of us both getting some time off in early June?” Courtney asks, watching as a calendar is brought up on a computer screen.

“We might have to get a bit busier with filming before and after depending how long you take off, but June is pretty light anyway so yeah, I think we can do that,” the HR person confirms.

With that knowledge in hand, they pick dates and book the accommodation (and flights to Colorado) that evening. The planning bug has got to them, though, so they also call Courtney’s Dad, getting an immediate yes for using his place for a party and starting to plan out the details.


	61. Chapter 56: Podcast

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is quite a long chapter, because it needed to seem like enough conversation to be an entire hour-long podcast. So... enjoy!

They have a podcast recording day of sorts on a Monday, the week before their Shourtney-cast, as it has now been nicknamed (by people other than them), is due to go out. They’re both part of the silly debate podcast they record with Ian in the morning – a very last minute recording for release two days later –, and Shayne is part of a boys’ cast they record straight after that one, due to be released two weeks later. It leaves their two-person recording for after lunch. It’s a quiet enough day in the office as it is with no actual video recording, and half their coworkers have taken a half-day if they were there at all, leaving by the time they wander into the smaller studio space they use for the podcast. Greg is in there with them running sound, Kevin producing, and the four of them chat for a little while amongst recording the promos to throw through the middle of the recording before they ease into the actual podcast.

“Hey hey guys it’s your weekly Smoshcast!” Courtney gives the introduction, before throwing a little extra drama into her tone, “this week featuring myself, Courtney Miller, andddddd one Shayne Topp – and no one else!”

“We don’t do two-person podcasts often, do we?” Shayne speaks up, helping ease into their discussion as smoothly as possible.

“We really don’t, I know I did one with Ian a while back – and you and Damien did a besties one a few weeks back, yeah?” she confirms.

“Yeah, we brought back a slightly less games-y version of the Damien and Shayne show a while back,” Shayne nods in confirmation, “I like our big group podcasts, honestly, gives us a lot more to bounce off everyone and keeping the conversation interesting – but the two person ones work pretty nicely too, especially when they’re those of us who are closer outside of work.”

“Mhm, yeah, definitely – you think we’re close enough for this podcast to work out?” she jokes, and he laughs lightly at her and good-naturedly rolls his eyes before she continues, “no, we aren’t going to dance around that – yes, we’re doing this podcast as a little bit of a Shourtney episode. For the record, we don’t actually refer to ourselves like that usually but – that’s what all our filming schedules say this episode is called.”

“It was our decision to do this one. We have been slowly getting more and more open with things in general since we went public – hey, we posted about the engagement less than a day after I asked – but it’s just kind of… as we get more of an idea how that fits in with maintaining the level of privacy we want, too. Because we definitely still want privacy in a lot of ways, but as we’ve settled into the public thing a bit more – I mean, I kind of love talking about stuff between us because it’s such a positive, exciting part of my life,” Shayne admits, not hiding from the fact his tone turns warmer as he speaks. They don’t shy away from genuineness on their more serious podcasts, anyway.

“Yeah, absolutely. And it’s not like we’ve changed our minds on what we’re okay with sharing as such, it’s more just a case of… things changing with time as we get more experience with living this whole thing. And, yeah, I love talking about it too. Oh, that’d be a terrible drinking game – every time we say the word _love_ in this next hour or so…” she trails off, with half a laugh.

“Alternative suggestion, make it a water drinking game because hydration is good for you,” Shayne grins, winking directly into the camera. Courtney laughs.

“Yeah, yeah, you and your health bullshit… okay, but, back on the sharing thing… so, basically, we have noticed that people have questions for us, and there’s quite a few questions that come up a lot more often than others. And, like, happy to answer them, but they deserve a little more than an Instagram comment reply,” she explains.

“This is just going to be very loosely structured; we’ve just got a list of broad topics and we’ll get to them however we do – but, yeah, that’s basically it. Also, sorry we don’t have the fun easing into the podcast talking about what we’ve been doing thing but like… that’s way too artificial for us to talk about, we do everything together,” Shayne laughs.

“Yes, we do actually live together – which I think we’ve mentioned offhandedly a few times, but anyway, I know that’s something we get asked. We officially moved in together, what, a month before we went public?” she tilts her head, the actual timing slipping from her mind.

“About that, but we realistically did not long after we got together. I mean, we were still switching between both our apartments for a while, but yeah, didn’t exactly want to spend time apart so we just… didn’t,” he confirms her statement.

“Must’ve been my background not-straightness getting in there, Monica told me that was a gay stereotype – or, a lesbian one, at least – move in super quickly,” she grins.

“So, the gay stereotypes are a thing for all queer girls no matter partner sexuality, are they? I don’t know this stuff, y’know, you gotta teach me,” he answers. It hadn’t been something they made note of to include in this podcast, but since she mentioned it, he wants to give her the space to keep going.

“I’m not sure I know either, given I came out as not straight and then quite quickly jumped into a long-term relationship with a straight dude… which, like, I didn’t intend to talk about this, but…” she hesitates, glancing up at him for support.

“Go on, if you want to. We can cut it later if you want,” he reassures her, and she nods, before taking a deep breath.

“Yeah, so like, I do occasionally see people talking about whether this whole thing means my sexuality has changed and- no, it doesn’t. Still not straight, never was, never will be. And, like, yeah, that was kind of something I struggled to conceptualise for a little while when we first got together – and it was actually part of the reason I was hesitant to say anything because I was worried you’d have some kind of issue with it.”

“Definitely never had an issue with it. I know when you came out on the podcast you just said not straight, and if you’d come out as lesbian or in any way indicated you weren’t into guys at all I would absolutely have tried to find a way to get over my feelings, but- behind the scenes you did let us know it wasn’t that. And I mean, hey, this is a message for any straight dudes dating not-straight girls: not more likely to cheat, not inherently more or less sexual, those stereotypes are bullshit and you’re just being biphobic or panphobic,” Shayne reinforces, intentionally shifting the conversation away from referencing Courtney specifically, sensing she wants to move on.

They don’t have a nice transition – they figure it will probably be where an ad break is inserted – but Courtney nods silently, before abruptly switching topics.

“So, it was actually a Smoshcast recording incident that made us decide to go public in the first place,” she starts, briefly glancing at the laptop off to her side with their rough list of topics.

“It was before we moved in together, actually, but our lives were getting increasingly intertwined and it was getting a hell of a lot harder to have those casual conversations we often do in Smoshcasts about what we’ve all been getting up to outside work without letting something slip,” Shayne supplies.

“We had a big ‘oh shit’ moment – it was just one of our chatting about nothing ones with Ian and Damien, I can’t remember which number it was when it was posted – but Ian was talking about his coffee – compulsory mini ad, go to my-favourite-coffee-dot-com to buy that stuff! – and then we were all just chatting about a coffee mishap Shayne had at his place, and five minutes later Kevin cut in and told us we had to cut a whole section…” she trails off, giving the space for Shayne to take the full story if he wants to.

“We were talking about coffee machines, and I was complaining about this shitty old thing I had at my place that always broke – it had been a nice little thing once upon a time, but it just got worse and worse and kept finding weird and wonderful ways to malfunction. So, I was talking about one of said malfunctions – can’t remember what it actually was, honestly – but the story involved me making fun of you for sleeping in and needing coffee to be a functioning human first thing in the morning because you truly are a basic bitch at heart, Ian was getting on our case for the coffee machine messing with our filming schedule because we both ended up being late for work…” he pauses, shaking his head, “that coffee machine was discarded when I moved into your place.”

“Good move, I didn’t understand why you still had it,” she laughs, “also, dude, you’re as much of a basic bitch as I am.”

“I know, I know… but yeah, we had that little chat on the Smoshcast, which now would be totally fine, but back then when Kevin pointed it out we realised… we were talking about how _we_ slept in and _you_ needed coffee, which raised the very obvious question of why you were sleeping at my apartment.”

“It certainly wasn’t our first slip-up in a video, I had quite a few incidents early on with calling you something I shouldn’t have – but this particular one was a little more of an indication of how we’d got to a point where our lives were very much intertwined and it was getting hard to pretend they weren’t. Also, we’ve alluded to it before, but it kinda sucked to edit out our relationship entirely. As much as there’s a distinction between our work and private lives in general, we do share anything major, so not sharing such a major positive thing was just… sucky.”

“Absolutely. I mean, we finally went from dancing around everything for however long to admitting we were in love with each other and into this wonderful relationship, and then we had to actively pretend we were still just friends when that was the last thing we wanted to be,” Shayne admits, Courtney making a noise of agreement before he continues, “and like, I know we initially said nothing would change, and that hasn’t proved entirely true – but we’ve basically gradually moved to a point where, as much as we are still aware of anything that happens on camera, we don’t edit our interactions. The way I see it at least – when we’re not playing a character or anything, I just interact with you how I’d be happy to around a heap of acquaintances.”

“Yeah, I’m much the same,” Courtney confirms, before looking over to the laptop beside her again, “you know, just checking my notes over here, you think we should let everyone in on the famed topic 1?”

“Ah, yes, the ‘how did you actually get together’ one,” he grins, “we know some people tried to do the math and work out _when_ – so, yes, May last year is correct. We giving the exact date?”

“May as well, I’m sure I’ll Instagram something to do with our anniversary a few days before this podcast comes out anyway,” Courtney grins, “May 10th, to be exact.”

“Mhm. So like… it wasn’t some big thing, really. It was never uncommon for just the two of us to hang out together outside work, and we’ve only admitted it since, but we were effectively going on dates for quite a while just never labelling them like that. This particular time – we just got dinner like we often do, but we also got milkshakes after and instead of just leaving it there, I suggested we hang out in this place I know up one of the hills around LA,” Shayne explains.

“There’s your milkshakes reference we’ve put out there a few times,” Courtney adds, not able to stop herself from smiling softly as she meets his eyes again, before adding, “so yeah, we ended up just hanging out talking in this really pretty place, and our conversation inadvertently went the way of talking about our relationship, and how maybe there was a little more there.”

“Which quite quickly became me admitting I was in love with you, and you admitting the same,” Shayne finishes for her, letting his eyes meet hers, “neither of us intended anything to happen then, but it just did. And we were really happy it did.”

“You know, I should’ve known something was up the other week when you suggested we go and get milkshakes after our date,” Courtney muses, “the other week was the first time since we got milkshakes again since the night we got together.”

“I could have just genuinely felt like a milkshake,” Shayne grins, “but yeah, I intentionally suggested that again after dinner the night I proposed, which… I guess people want to know how that happened too, huh?”

“Nothing elaborate, that’s not our style. We had a nice relaxed dinner out, we got milkshakes after, we went home and he asked me not long after we got home,” Courtney laughs, “also, I have ‘the engagement stuff’ written on this list of topics on the screen beside me, and I just wanna say – I _love_ this engagement stuff. So shamelessly excited that we’re actually engaged.”

“So am I, it’s the best thing ever. It’s… we’ve been openly committed for the long term for quite a while, nothing between us was ever not serious, but it feels really special to be able to actually say – yeah, I asked you to marry me and you said yes.”

“Easiest answer I’ve ever given,” she nods, “the other engagement stuff we get asked about is a little more direct on the questions though, so – no, we don’t know when we’ll actually have a wedding and get married, and we probably won’t say anything about it until after it happens. Other than that, so… the more contentious timing stuff…”

“Ah, yes,” Shayne grimaces slightly, “to put it in context – we got engaged the day before our 11-month anniversary, and as Court mentioned earlier, this podcast will come out just after a year. We were both very aware that this could be seen as pretty early to get engaged.”

“It’s something we’ve talked about quite a lot before it happened. As much as I was definitely surprised by the proposal, I knew it was coming sometime soon. We openly discussed that we both felt like we were ready to take that step, but there was a concern about what it’d look like to everyone else,” Courtney admits.

“I actually talked to my Dad and Chris, my brother, about it a little while ago, because I was having an internal war with myself because I was having all these really clear, serious thoughts that I _knew_ we were going to get married, and I wanted to ask, but I felt like I _should_ think it was too soon. The one thing I took away from talking to them in particular was, to quote my brother – we didn’t start from zero. We started from years of being in that weird place of friends but way, way more emotionally committed than just friends. And the thing that took me a while to get, but ended up being quite important, is that it’s not really about what it looks like to anyone else, the only thing that mattered is what was right for us,” Shayne nods, throwing an almost-stern glance at one of the cameras, kind of by accident.

“There’s a whole lot of pressure out there – on every relationship, not just us, although maybe a little more explicitly on us because comments and all – to follow a specific pattern or to measure up to a certain pathway. We know that against that typical pathway, we might look like we’re going through stages and getting serious pretty quickly, and both of us ended up talking to a few different people and each other about whether we were moving too quickly into this particular step,” Courtney muses, “but every relationship is different. The idea of what is right and what should happen is always going to be weird because everything depends on the specific context of each relationship. For us, that context was that we _started_ from a much more serious place than might normally happen. I mean, Damien made a joke to me about us getting married a few days after we got together and I didn’t even think anything of it because – yeah, of course that’d happen sometime.”

“Much like everything else we’ve done, it was carefully considered to be right for what we wanted and what we knew was right for us,” Shayne emphasises, before brightening his tone, “now, we’re pushing up on our time limit here – so, we know you guys got a bunch more questions that are little bit spicier, so how about we get right into those – hey, Court, you pregnant?”

“A big, emphatic no on that one,” Courtney grins, “and it isn’t going to happen anytime soon. Also, seriously, do I look the slightest bit pregnant? I’m working out so much more because I live with this guy over here that goes to the gym almost daily, I got full on abs now.”

“Yeah, I really don’t understand that one either,” Shayne laughs, “what else you got on that list?”

“Hmmm, oh, well there’s always the sexual shit,” she shakes her head, “which, like- hey, it’s kind of weird and creepy when people ask that kind of stuff directly, it would be cool if you could like, not do that, guys.”

“Indeed. And like- yeah, sometimes we throw a bit of innuendo at each other in videos and play it up a little for the joke, and that’s fine, but it doesn’t mean it’s cool for anyone else to push that kind of thing,” he agrees, “and I think the last little topic – family stuff?”

“Yeah, and I mean – I get Aunty Courtney from his brothers’ kids and he gets Uncle Shayne from all the kids on my side of the family for their ease, as much as anything. But like, we are part of each other’s families, because our families recognise that we’re in this forever. Shayne’s Mum calls me her not-daughter daughter, shoutout to Dianne who might listen to this one,” Courtney grins, “and my Dad thinks Shayne is the best because he knows sports stuff more than any of my siblings do.”

“You know _you_ know some sports stuff now,” Shayne teases.

“And you know way too much about makeup, although somehow you’re still really bad at helping me put fake nails on,” she puts on an exasperated sigh and he merely laughs.

“What can I say, being in a serious relationship and living with you has expanded my knowledge base, made me a better person, made me endlessly happy, given me everything I’ve ever wanted it life…” he trails off.

“And I could say the same for you, baby.”

They transition into an ending, then, satisfied that they have filled enough time and shared enough details.


	62. Chapter 57: Cheesy

They have a quiet day for their anniversary, both taking a rare late morning and sleeping in (and, you know, other activities) until after 10am.

“Has it seriously been a year?” Courtney muses, aimlessly flitting around the living room to tidy up a little.

“It’s gone so quickly but I feel like we’ve been together forever, too,” Shayne agrees with her, walking out of the bedroom, “also, I got you something.”

“Of course you did,” she rolls her eyes, letting him take her hand and guide her to sit on the couch. She chooses to swing her legs up onto the couch and cross them under herself so she can sit sideways, facing him.

“Happy anniversary, my love,” he tells her – not for the first time in the day – as he hands over a small box that looks a lot like a jewellery box.

Courtney flips it open, surprised when instead of a needlessly fancy item of jewellery she’d struggle to wear in her everyday life, she’s met with a gold-and-red pin in the shape of a heart, “S + C” inscribed in the centre, sitting beside another of a cartoon milkshake – mocha, obviously.

“This is _amazing_ ,” she laughs, pulling the heart pin out of the box, “you know me so fucking well.”

“I figured a pin was more your style than anything else,” he shrugs, “also, I maybe had them custom-made and the letters in the heart are maybe my handwriting.”

“I was wondering why they looked so familiar,” she nods, looking closely at the pin before carefully placing it back in the box so she can pull him into a firm kiss. “You are absolutely the sweetest and I _love_ this.”

“I’m glad you like it. I… not gonna lie, struggled with what to get you. Wanted to be a little cheesy, but not just like… stereotypical cheesy, I know that isn’t you,” he admits, hand settling comfortably against her thigh.

“I love your brand of cheesy,” Courtney confirms, before reluctantly pulling away to go and retrieve (part of) his gift from where she had hidden it behind some of her books on their bookshelf. “Got you something too, or well, also struggled and got you a couple of different things but this is the one you get now.”

He laughs at that, before thanking her wholeheartedly when he opens a gorgeous leather bookmark, their first names pressed into it alongside a simple ‘I love you’.

“I like how we both just went for first names,” Shayne grins, pulling Courtney into his arms more decidedly after they both shift their gifts over to the coffee table.

“I hadn’t thought about the whole getting married and potential name changes thing until I was ordering this and was like… huh, we haven’t talked about that have we,” she shrugs.

“Do you have an opinion on it, out of interest? I don’t, honestly,” he admits, “I mean, if you want to take my name then that’s fine, but I don’t care if you don’t, and I’d be fine if I took yours too.”

“I don’t really want to _not_ have my name in there somewhere,” Courtney admits, “but I want your name too. I can’t decide, honestly.”

“We could always do both and the hyphen,” he suggests, and she nods.

“I don’t mind that idea. Topp-Miller would be a decent name to have, y’think?”

Their conversation is interrupted by their doorbell, and Courtney laughs.

“Hey, Shayne, think that’s for you.”

He raises an eyebrow at her before reluctantly standing from the couch and wandering over to answer the door. He thanks the delivery person, taking the flowers and turning back to Courtney with a grin.

“I almost was going to get flowers for you, but I thought maybe you might’ve,” he laughs, “thank you, baby.”

“I know you like having them around to brighten up the place, so you know. You wanna get back over here and cuddle for a bit?” she requests, after he sets the flowers down on their dining table, and he has no complaints as he shifts back to sit beside her and do just that.

Their day continues in comfortable and quiet bliss. They play a little Switch together, get lunch delivered from a place they both love, and settle against each other in silence on the couch for a couple of hours as he reads a book he’d picked up earlier in the week and she sketches in a random sketchbook leant up against the arm of the couch. She hasn’t got a whole heap of drawing done lately, she’s kind of out of practice and she misses it sometimes. Still, she gets bored after a while, tossing the sketchbook over onto the coffee table before she twists around to lean back against Shayne’s arm. He glances at her for a moment, smiling lightly before his gaze shifts back to his book.

She expects that to be the end of it as she grabs and starts scrolling through her phone, but after a moment he shifts his book around into his lap propped against his right leg, using his now-free left hand to gently prompt her to sit up properly again, before gesturing for her to make herself a little more comfortable slouching back against his chest. His left hand finds hers, tangling their fingers together resting against her sternum as he returns to his book, now turning pages with one hand.

She lifts her phone up above them, flipping open the camera and shifting around a little to try and find an angle that includes both of them, his book, and their hands loosely fitting together over her chest, taking the photo and flicking over to Instagram. She isn’t wearing makeup, and they’re in a weird position, but she looks happy, and as much as he’s not looking at the camera, it’s clear he’s smiling, and it’s just what she feels like posting.

“my favourite person to do nothing with. and everything else. thanks for a perfect first (official) year, @shaynetopp. <3 <3 <3” she captions the post, briefly grabbing his attention to make sure he’s okay with her posting it before she does.

He leaves it a little longer into the evening, slowly collating a handful of pictures he wants to post. He snaps a photo of the flowers she’d bought him while there is still daylight streaming into the house and making them bright and colourful. He takes a photo of the pins he’d bought her when she attaches them into prime position on her denim jacket and puts the jacket on to stare at it in the mirror a little.

After they have dinner, they settle back down on the couch together at his request, and he pulls out his phone to take a photo. For once, he slouches down and leans his head into the crook of her neck for the photo, cheek pressed as close to hers as possible.

He opens Instagram after he takes it, adding his three photos from the day – plus the photo of her he took without her noticing in the pizza place the night they got together.

“I’m gonna type out everything I kind of want to say in this post, and it’s going to be long and cheesy as fuck, and you can read over my shoulder and then I’ll edit it down as much as you want before I actually post it. But yeah,” he tells her, unsurprised when she shifts to press a soft kiss to the top of his head in response.

“Okay, but if you want to get sappy, I’m not going to tell you not to.”

He doesn’t respond, but he opens the caption box to start typing before redeciding and flicking over to the notes app first, starting to type.

“so you know how I usually go jokey or just repost @co_mill’s posts about us? This is not that at all.

Today is our one-year anniversary. The last year has been the happiest, most fulfilling, loving year of my life and I know it’s just one of many more to come. Courtney, you’re absolutely everything to me, I love you more than I ever thought I could love anyone and I feel more loved in return than I ever thought I could be. I took that first picture a couple of hours before we got together, when neither of us had any idea things were finally going to change. You already had my heart then, I just couldn’t tell you.

Every single part of my life is better because I get to share it with you. I’m endlessly glad that we’re in this life thing together and I get to know that you, somehow, feel the same way about me.

And sometimes I love you so damn much that I need to tell quite a lot of other people these things too, because I’ve already told you all of this, and I took that second picture a couple minutes ago and you’re reading this over my shoulder as I write it, so as much as I’m directing it at you...

Anyway, I’m head over heels in love with Courtney.

Also, get you a girl who remembers a conversation you had randomly at work years ago and buys your favourite flowers for you for your anniversary.”

“Post it as is, if you want to,” Courtney tells him, when he pauses for long enough to make it clear that he’s finished typing, “I mean, yes, it’s sappy as fuck, but I’m okay with you posting it. Just, whatever you’re doing, do it quickly so I can throw up a comment in response and then take you to bed?”

He laughs at that, copying the whole note and pasting it over into his caption, hitting post before he can change his mind. True to her statement, she reaches for her own phone in response and immediately pulls up his post, getting in one of the first comments.

“How fucking sappy can you be, dude? But for real, love you to bits, this is cute AF, and don’t think I didn’t see you explain every photo except the pins. Guys, this boy knows me so well he gave me a fancy custom heart pin with our initials in his handwriting and I love it. Not as much as I love you though Shayne <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 (we’re getting so teased for this at work tomorrow)”

She hits send on the comment, before making good on her promise, placing both of their phones down on the coffee table before she gently pulls him up from the couch and towards their bedroom.

————————————————

Her prediction on the teasing is right (not that their coworkers hadn’t also got in some teasing in the Instagram comments the night before). Ian is on their case the second they walk into work, jumping out of his office.

“Damn, guys, that was some romantic shit all over Instagram last night! Remember when you guys were obsessed with privacy and would barely even say shit to each other in front of us? And now Shayne’s over here giving Instagram maximum cheese?” he jokes, as he wanders across the room to where they’re putting things down at their desks.

“Oh, shut up, let me be happy and vulnerable,” Shayne waves him off, Courtney laughing lightly at Ian as she reaches over to squeeze Shayne’s shoulder in comfort.

“Okay but this pin dude, that’s _awesome_ ,” Sarah enthuses, shifting over herself to find it on Courtney’s jacket because of course she had to wear it today even though it’s way too warm to actually need a jacket.

“It seriously is, this boy is the best. Milkshake one was part of it too,” Courtney confirms, twisting slightly so Sarah can see the pins more clearly.

“Gorgeous. Ignore Ian, I mean, yes, Shayne’s post was the sappiest thing I’ve seen for ages, but it’s cool.”

Damien doesn’t say anything immediately, but he pulls Shayne aside later in the day when they’re taking a quick break.

“I won’t make a big deal about it if you don’t want me to, but dude, what you wrote last night was a lot- but you’ve been wanting to open up for a while, yeah? Proud of you, Shayne,” Damien tells him, and Shayne nods.

“Yeah. I mean, she’s been hearing that stuff from me since the first night, honestly, but I’m just… I don’t want to be standoffish and hiding behind jokes every time I talk about her, I want to be honest about how much she is to me. So, yeah, maybe it was a little over-the-top but not a word of it wasn’t true and I’m glad I did it.”


	63. Chapter 58: Pillow

The start of their relaxing holiday is anything but. There’s an uncharacteristically persistent summer thunderstorm hitting LA on the Monday morning when they fly out, and it catches them as they dash from their Uber into the airport. It’s not enough to drench them or their luggage, but it’s enough for the humidity to frizz up their hair and make everything feel uncomfortably damp. There’s flights being delayed all over the place, too, but they figure the storm will pass and they’ll be fine.

The storm doesn’t work in their favour, and when they’re meant to be boarding 45 minutes after they arrive, they’re still sitting at the gate watching the delayed time of departure be pushed further and further back.

When they finally take off – an hour late – they have an equally rough start to the flight, turbulence throwing the plane to all sorts of uncomfortable, jolting angles. Neither Shayne nor Courtney are particularly uncomfortable with flying, but it’s still less than ideal.

It calms as they fly further away from the coast and California, though, and the death grip Courtney was holding his hand in slowly relaxes into gently playing with his fingers. They land in Colorado just over two hours later, and they pray for no more drama as they step off the plane and head to collect their luggage. It works, the drama seeming to be over as their bags turn up quickly and their rental car sits ready and waiting when they collect it.

“Okay, this is already gorgeous,” Courtney sighs happily, looking around as they start heading further up into the mountains not long after leaving the airport. The forest gets denser and the air cooler as they drive, the landscape dotted with patches of clear meadows, wildflowers, full-flowing rivers and mountain vistas. The resort they had booked is a thirty-minute drive further into the forest from a small mountain town, the town itself an hour from the city they flew into. They stop in the town on the way through to grab some basic groceries so they can stay in and cook a little when they don’t feel like going out, before continuing on to the resort itself.

“Damnnnn this looks good. Can’t wait to do a whole lot of relaxing nothing with you here all week,” Shayne muses, pulling into a parking space out the front of the resort’s main office when they arrive. It’s not a huge place – there’s only 30 rooms, although calling them ‘rooms’ really undersells it – but it’s built up and full of all the amenities they could’ve wanted. They check in with ease, happy to note their standalone suite sits off near the edge of the resort.

They’re only a few steps away from the next suite over, truthfully, but the area is set up in a way that feels totally private. A combination of wooden slat fencing and carefully planted gardens insulates their space from their neighbouring suite and the pathway running between the accommodation opposite it. The space they step inside feels expansive and open, though, a mixture of minimalist white details and dark, rich wood inside giving way to wide glass doors open to a patio looking over the river opposite. They stash the groceries they’d bought back in town in the small kitchenette, off to the side of the spacious living area complete with a small dining table, TV, plush sofa, and a huge gas log fire. It looks warm and comforting, although they figure being the height of summer, they’re probably not going to need the fire even up in the mountains like this.

The bedroom sits off to the side of the living room, bi-fold doors kept open to make the space into one. The king-sized bed has way more pillows than is probably necessary, but it looks comfy, and Shayne lets himself fall back onto it in a starfish pose after they set their things down. Courtney, for her part, continues on to peek into the bathroom – connected to both the bedroom and living room – nodding to herself, impressed by the large jacuzzi tub. Plus, their private patio over the river has its own private hot tub, too.

“So, like, I’m tired as fuck and travelling today kinda sucked – you up for ordering room service dinner and trying out either the hot tub or jacuzzi for some chill times tonight?” Courtney suggests, standing beside the bed as he shifts onto his side and looks back up at her.

“I am so for that. You wanna go for a walk along the river and check out the rest of the place first, though? I could do with stretching out a little after all the travelling,” Shayne offers.

They do just that, walking hand-in-hand along the path that follows the river, down and a little out of view from their patio. They walk along the river for a while before the path meanders back up and through the resort. They pass the onsite restaurant, with its open patio seating looking out over a gap in the forest that glimpses a view across the mountains the resort is nestled amongst. Shayne makes note of the expansive gym a little further back from the river, and they both pause at the spa to read through the services available, grabbing a leaflet menu to take back to their room.

The path loops back through the centre of the resort then, through the mountain spring-styled swimming pools and past tennis courts and the little shop that purports to hire out anything that may be of need during their stay. They see a handful of other couples through that part of the walk, all of them giving a nod of acknowledgement before returning to their own private existence.

They return to their rooms when the path takes them back closer to their edge of the resort. Courtney collapses herself down onto the sofa when they do, watching as Shayne flits around the space for a moment before also sinking down onto the couch to messily lay half-on top of her. Courtney laughs as he squirms around to try and get comfortable, arms wrapping around him as he does.

“You’re a good pillow. Love lying all over you,” Shayne mumbles, when he finally settles, and she brushes a thumb across his cheek where it rests on her chest in response.

“Do you have any big ideas about what you wanna do tomorrow?” she asks him, receiving an initial noncommittal hum in response.

“I like the idea of a massage early in this because I know I’m carrying tension from everything- would also like to sleep in tho, and I don’t even necessarily mean our version of sleeping in for early morning sex, I genuinely want to just sleep,” he admits, voice soft.

“I like both those ideas, although I can’t say I don’t plan on jumping you in the jacuzzi tonight if you’re up for it,” she responds, feeling his responding grin more than she can see it.

They order room service relatively early for their dinner, and Courtney unpacks their bags a little – just the things that might crease – as he lies on the sofa flicking through the resort’s information pack on what there is to do around the area. They do plan to spend a good chunk of their week doing absolutely fuck all just chilling together, but they want to have a little fun, too. Take advantage of the Colorado summer vibes, given they are so different to Californian hell-heat Summer vibes.

Shayne is a water boy through and through, having grown up spending so much time out on the ocean with his Dad, and a few things in particular pique his interest.

“What looks good?” she asks him, bumping him to the side a little so she can perch on the edge of the couch, beside where he is lying on his stomach.

“There’s some cool hiking trails here, this one up to the top of this great waterfall seems like our kinda thing – I think it’d be a good few hours there and back, but it says it goes past all these other smaller waterfalls with pools you can swim in too, so…” he trails off, finger moving across the page in front of him to point out the things he’s referring to.

“Oooh, that sounds great, let’s make a day of that sometime,” she confirms, before prompting him to discuss more ideas, all of which she happily agrees to.

————————————————

They reluctantly move off the couch to sit at the small dining table when their dinner arrives. The food is lovely – a good sign for their ability to rely on the in-resort restaurant when they don’t feel like cooking or making the drive back down the mountain to the town – and they talk lightly about their upcoming engagement party as they eat, both excited at the prospect of finally bringing their families together.

They’d made sure it would be a no-work, no-stress holiday entirely. They’ve committed to avoid talking about work as much as they can, and their phones had been permanently set on do not disturb for the week. They had granted small exceptions – to their parents, and Sarah. Sarah was instructed to call them only if the company was imploding, someone died, or something equally as bad and necessary of their attention in particular happened. They trusted her to stick to that a little more than they did Ian or Matt. They were taking breaks from their own social media, too, Courtney having deleted her Instagram and TikTok apps so she could not be tempted.

They elect to go for the jacuzzi over the hot tub first, wanting a little more time to make sure they definitely can’t see anyone from their patio – and no one else can see them – before they commit to probable nudity in the hot tub outside. Shayne moves into the bathroom to fill the tub as Courtney closes over the curtains in all rooms to pull them into complete privacy for the night.

Shayne hesitates for a moment, before making the intentional choice to strip out of his clothes – and fold them and put them on top of the bathroom counter, of course – and step into the tub before Courtney enters the bathroom. She’s already removed most of her own clothing when she wanders in from the bedroom – and he notices she’s taken off her ring – but she still puts on a frown as she looks at him already sitting in the water.

“Couldn’t have waited and let me undress you?” She asks, but he just grins and shakes his head.

“We know where that leads, I want to just chill for a bit first. But, hey, you getting in soon so I can actually make it the jacuzzi thing instead of just a tub?” he prompts. She nods in understanding as she casually removes the rest of her own clothing, letting it fall to the floor before she steps into the tub.

She places herself just to his side, thankful for the expansive size of the tub letting her cuddle against his side while also staying low enough to have the water up over her chest. He reaches over to press the button to start the jets, filling the tub with the relaxing movement of water and the air with its white noise.

He lets his arm fall to rest lightly around her shoulders after turning on the jets, and she lets her head tilt backwards to lean against his arm. They settle into a comfortable silence, letting their proximity and the water combine to wash away the residual tension of their everyday lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> An optional mature scene follows this chapter. It will be posted as a separate chapter.


	64. Chapter 58 Part 2: EXPLICIT CONTENT (Optional)

Their silence gives way to soft conversation after god knows how long – time is not something either Shayne or Courtney are paying a whole lot of attention to – and soft conversation quickly leads to his hands slipping under the water to trace patterns across her body. There is nothing forceful or direct about his ministrations, but they build her up slowly and make her feel like she’s melting back against him. His fingers running across the sides of her ribcage tickle, a little, but instead of pulling away she pushes closer into him so his fingers fall further around to meet her breast.

He takes the hint, placing a soft kiss against the side of her neck as he lets his hands run circles across her chest, ever closer to her nipples until they brush across them and she lets her eyes slam shut. He continues to run one hand around her chest as his other starts slowly descending down her body, over her stomach, catching slightly on her bellybutton.

She isn’t entirely surprised when he shifts his hand to the side as soon as he is between her hips, hand running down to her thigh. He’s not rushing, and she’s okay to just wait and let it happen, for once. His hand runs up and down her thigh, travelling ever so slightly higher each time but never quite high enough.

“You’re testing my patience a little,” she breaks their conversational silence – not total silence, he’d been murmuring softly and sweetly into her ear as she let out noises of appreciation – when his hand all but touches her labia before descending down again.

“I know,” he answers, pressing a kiss against her neck again. She can feel him smirking against her as he stills his other hand cupped around her breast and finally lets his hand move up between her thighs and between her labia. She gasps openly in response, head tilting further back against the bath behind them.

His hand doesn’t descend again, instead running one finger slowly up and over her clit. Her body jolts in surprise, pushing back against him away from his hand before pushing forward for more pressure. He adds an additional finger, then, creating a pattern against her clit. His lips brush repetitively and messily in the crook of her neck, occasionally pressing a full open-mouthed kiss or a light press of his teeth against her neck.

She lets her chorus of gasps and whimpers of pleasure out as they come to her, not at all concerned about him knowing how he’s making her feel. Despite the long build-up she doesn’t come quickly, instead holding back as much as she can to extend the experience. He knows she’s holding back, and he encourages it, keeping his pattern just erratic enough to stop her accidentally getting to the point of climax until a particularly sharp kiss against her shoulder changes her mind.

“Fuck, baby, can you let me cum?” she requests, breathless, and his hand against her clit immediately settles into a tighter pattern that has her cumming only a minute later.

“Love you,” he tells her, softly, hand moving away to settle on the outside of her thigh. His touch is still hot and intense, but it gives her the space to calm down from her high for a moment before she reaches to the side to trail her own hand up the inside of his thigh.

“So much for me jumping you,” she murmurs, not quite able to reach her hand comfortably to his penis, although she feels it hardening against her backside as she rubs against his thigh.

“Oops,” he laughs lightly, before moving both hands to sit around her hips and encourage her to move properly into his lap. “I wouldn’t hate if we-“

“Yes, please,” she cuts him off before he has a chance to finish, moving onto his lap and groaning when she feels him, hard, inevitably pressing between her legs.

“God you’re so fucking eager for me,” he groans, voice a little rougher as her gentle grinding against his lap pushes him closer to her entrance.

It takes him a moment to work out the angle but as soon as he does, he pushes into her, moaning against her shoulder as his head falls forward against her in response. He can’t exactly move much given she’s sitting on top of him, but she matches his gentle movements with a slow and steady grind against him. She’s teasing him just as much as he was her before –he doesn’t blame her, he drew her out for way longer than he usually would – but it still has him vocalising almost constantly, nonsensical murmurs mixed with dirty praise.

He tries to hold back for a while, too, enjoying the feeling of her moving slowly on him and the constant pressure and warmth of being inside her. She moves to a little more directly riding him after a while, though, and it’s too much for him – in the best way possible – and it isn’t long before he finds himself cumming.

“You’re so good at that,” he sighs, as she continues to move – although less than she was – against him.

“Mm, you want to move to the bed soon? I think I’ve had enough in here. And this position is not quite working for me enough to cum – I mean, it is, but not _enough_ ,” she tells him. He affirms her idea, reluctantly letting go of her to let her stand up and out of the jacuzzi first. He quickly reaches down to pull the plug out and let the water out of the tub as he steps out himself. He takes one of the towels before she can, wrapping it and himself around her.

They do take the time to dry each other properly, a little messily, between kisses and wandering hands, before they pull each other into the bedroom and fall down onto the bed and into each other.


	65. Chapter 59: Waterfall

They spend their first morning in the mountains sleeping in, and the rest of their first full day in the spa getting an extensive (and expensive) couples massage treatment. It does exactly what it promises, pulling the tension in their bodies from the constant movement and pressure of their lives out and dissipating it into the air, at least as long as they can stay here in quiet bliss.

They get up much earlier on the second morning, carefully packing towels, water and lunches in backpacks and putting their swimwear under their clothes. It’s already comfortably warm when they set off, following the path along the river to its fork. They had previously turned left to loop back through the resort, but this time they take the right fork and the bridge over the river to head into the national park trails.

It’s not a rough back-country hike by any means. The trail is asphalted for the first little while, before it turns to rough gravel as they start climbing further up into the mountain. The forest thickens as they head higher, too, and about 45 minutes in they start hearing the first signs of water, a distant ambient rush of white noise.

They choose not to stop at the first waterfall they cross, instead committing to making the full 2-hour walk up to the top first. They chat idly as they walk, although not loudly, the environment demanding a sense of quiet and calmness. They do pass one other person walking going the opposite direction – evidently someone who had been up early to see the sunrise from the top, which would be nice, but neither of them are _that_ into getting up early – but their morning is otherwise reserved for just them.

Courtney pulls out her phone when they reach the top, not able to resist taking a few photos of the view they have out over the mountains around them. They aren’t up the tallest peak in the area by far, but they’re high enough to see quite a way, and it’s nice. It’s pretty.

She can’t help but flip the camera around for a moment and take a selfie with Shayne, too, although she merely takes it and closes out the camera.

There’s a clearing a little way back down the path where they find a spot to sit and eat the picnic lunch they’d packed. They briefly visit the waterfall closest to the top when they start their return walk, but it’s scenic more than anything else, so they quickly continue on to a smaller waterfall further down that they had earmarked as an ideal spot to get a little more involved. It’s a few minutes’ walk off the main trail down into a small ravine, but it has its own marked trail, too.

Their pick was right – there’s a clear, open pool at the bottom, and there’s evidence that people use it for swimming often enough with worn paths down into the water. There’s a worn path up to the top of the small waterfall, too, and Shayne makes a mental note of it, although he doesn’t point it out when they first arrive. There isn’t anyone else they can see or hear, although they’d spotted a group of friends up near the top of the mountain not long ago, so they hide their bags behind a rock that shields them from the pathway leading out to the main trail.

Shayne is eager, discarding his shoes, pulling off his shirt and throwing it on top of their bags as he quickly moves to step into the water and push himself out into the pool. It isn’t hugely deep, but it’s enough that he can sink down so only his shoulders sit above the water.

“You coming?” he calls out, with a laugh, and Courtney rolls her eyes.

“Patience, idiot,” she tells him, as she struggles to pull off her own bike shorts – they were good for walking, not so good for quickly removing to go swimming –, moving towards the water as soon as she succeeds. She isn’t as rapid as him, metaphorically and literally dipping a toe in the water to test the temperature before she steps further out, although still only up to her knees.

Shayne is openly watching and grinning at her, teasing clear as he hovers halfway out towards where the waterfall lands. She playfully rolls her eyes at him, although she takes notice of the fact that he’s evidently waiting for her to join him before he actually goes under the waterfall. She hesitates on her next step, before murmuring a quiet ‘fuck it’ and propelling herself forward to slide into the water up to her shoulders just as he has.

“Hey,” she greets him as she moves close to him.

“If that took you that much hesitation… think you’d be up for jumping off the waterfall? There’s a path from over there across those rocks up there, people must jump off it,” Shayne informs her, pointing out the path as he does.

“Interesting – maybe. I’d want it to be a hell of a lot deeper over under the jumping spot than it is here, though, or I won’t even let you jump. Don’t want any injuries here, boy, this is meant to be a relaxing trip,” she warns him, and he laughs.

“Oh, I know, I was thinking the same. Won’t be stupid. But hey – isn’t it you that usually does all the crazy dangerous jumps in Summer Games belly flop competitions?” he raises an eyebrow.

“It’s different there, I swear. Controlled pool environments,” she shrugs, before adding, “now, you coming under this waterfall?”

She pushes off from the floor of the pool before waiting for his answer, but he follows her as she paddles further out into the centre of the pool and directly under the waterfall. It’s a relatively calm waterfall, only a small volume of water running down the final open stretch before the pool, but she still squeals as she ducks under it and it washes over her head.

She doesn’t hear Shayne’s laugh until he too ducks under the water and joins her behind it, the splashing in front of them and rocks behind – and above – insulating any sound from outside. The pool had deepened considerably not two steps from where they’d stopped previously, more than deep enough near the waterfall for jumping to seem safe enough.

It shallows out behind the waterfall as the rocks rise up behind them, though, and Shayne continues paddling backwards until he’s able to stand up, torso out of the water as he leans back against the wall behind them.

“So, you gon try jumping?” he asks, and she grins.

“Absolutely, but not right now,” she tells him, paddling off to the side to allow her to submerge more of her body under the water, now neck-deep and treading water to keep her head above the surface. She ducks back out under the waterfall again for a moment before returning again to behind it, flicking her hair around to try and keep it out of her face after she does.

“Fun?” he asks.

“Yes, get back in here,” she tells him, swimming closer only to run her arms along the surface of the water to splash a wave of water at him. It starts exactly the water fight she had hoped for as he immediately pushes himself back into the water and towards her, palm across the surface to send a wave to the back of her head as she yelps and tries to swim away.

Shayne is the first to move back out of the water. He eyes off the path up the rocks for a moment before nodding, as if accepting its safety, and starting to climb up closer to the top of the waterfall. Courtney, for her part, pushes back away from the centre of the pool so she can watch him, content to stay down below at least for the meantime.

He hesitates a little more once he reaches the obvious jumping off point, but he sure as shit isn’t turning around now. She shouts encouragement from down below, and he uses it to propel him to jump off, legs curling up below him in a loose cannonball. The fall isn’t as long as it had looked from down below, but it’s enough to be exhilarating and to give him some amount of speed when he hits the water.

It’s not enough to hurt, though, and he’s able to quickly propel himself back upwards and out of the water well before he nears the bottom of the pool.

“Okay that looked amazing,” Courtney enthuses as soon as he surfaces, and he can’t help but laugh in excitement and nod as she scrambles out of the water and over to climb up and jump off herself. She is a little more vocal with her excitement when she jumps – and when she emerges from the water after landing. It pushes him to be a little less subdued the next time, too, letting himself relax into messing around with her.

They have their fun for probably a little too long, before deciding they should probably keep heading back down towards their accommodation.

“Just – one more thing?” Courtney requests, sweetly, and he can almost tell what it is from her tone and the way she manages to locate his hand underwater to pull him back towards the waterfall with her.

His guess is correct. She turns to him and reaches for his face just as they approach the wall of water, one hand cupping his cheek and the other sliding back into his hair as she presses her lips against his. He is all too happy to kiss her back, one hand around her upper back as they drift under and eventually through the waterfall’s stream, still kissing. She deepens the kiss once they’re in the little insulated area behind the water, tongue finding its place in his mouth with ease.

“There. Now I can say I’ve made out with you under a waterfall,” she says, matter-of-factly, when they finally separate and she pushes back through the water to move towards the shore again. He laughs openly in response as he follows her out, not entirely disagreeing with her sentiment.

————————————————

They end up alternating between active and quiet on their remaining days in Colorado. The Thursday, the day after their hiking and waterfall adventures, is much calmer – they head down into the town and wander around its quiet shops for a while before returning to their accommodation for the afternoon, Shayne sitting out on the patio reading a book he’d bought as Courtney writes and sketches in her most recent journal. She challenges herself to journal without mentioning him, for a moment, but doesn’t get particularly far – she is on a holiday they’d planned with the intention to just immerse themselves in each other’s company, to be fair.

On Friday, Shayne convinces her to try stand up paddle boarding a little further down the river, halfway between their accommodation and the town – he’d seen the location on their trip into town the previous day. It teaches Courtney that her balance is nowhere near as good as she thought it was, because she ends up in the water more often than she’d hoped, but it’s fun anyway. They again return to their accommodation later in the day, and find themselves engaging in their own private cardio-intensive activities inside. And, after they have a quick dinner in the onsite restaurant, in their hot tub.

They spend a rare couple of hours apart on the Saturday – Shayne ends up in the gym, while Courtney gets another spa treatment, this time getting her nails all done up with the intention that they will still be nice and professionally-treated for the shooting they have to do the following week back in LA.

“How would you feel about ending off the week with a _super_ cheesy romantic dinner in town? I know we don’t do it much, but- I was looking, and there’s a place I think we’d both like, and I just want to spoil you sometimes, y’know?” He had asked her, early on the Saturday morning. She agrees with a soft smile, so they do just that, hands wrapped delicately together on top of their small table in a relatively private section of the largely candlelit restaurant.

“I know it isn’t always what we do but – thank you, for this. It’s nice. Sometimes I do want to just do all the stereotypical couple stuff with you,” Courtney tells him, partway through their meal.

“Of course. You’re so special to me, I want to express that through things like this sometimes,” Shayne agrees.


	66. Chapter 60: Valuable

It’s not exactly ideal to have to jump straight back into a hectic filming schedule the day after they fly back from Colorado – or two days after, for Shayne, given he has one last Goldbergs day to get a couple fixed shots before they break for Summer on the Monday. The holiday helps, though: they start from a more relaxed base, more able to compartmentalise the work and the personal and to handle everything that starts being thrown at them to do for work.

Monday and Tuesday are devoted sketch days: they get through a couple of big EBEs and a fake commercial about TikTok eboys that has Courtney dressing up as a dude, a slightly more naïve and much less sexualised internet persona than Brianna Boho. Later in the week is devoted to Games videos, though, and it runs a little quicker.

They had been offered a partnership with a new game-creation platform around their past Summer and Winter Games competitions, for one video, and they take it with pleasure, Matt and Sarah dressing up in their ref outfits to stand in the background while Damien, Ian, Courtney and Shayne take the four computers.

They do the games in order: a kind-of shooter to represent their first summer games at the beach house first. There’s less environment to play on this one, given they’d mostly just done the games standing out on the public beach, but it’s still a nice setting the company has created for them. It doesn’t escape either Courtney or Shayne that the time on the beach was the first time they ever really talked, and they didn’t even talk much directly to each other. But it was Shayne’s first existence in the Smosh world, and they were just acquaintances back then but now they were _engaged_. A lot had changed.

Camp is second, and the company has remade the whole facility they stayed and filmed at. The four of them spend more time running around the setup than actually filming the bit where they play the game, although neither Matt nor Sarah mind, both leaning over their computers to watch as they explore the virtual campground. Winter and Wild West are much the same – the environments are _amazing_ , the games are okay, and they waste probably a little too much time running around.

Apocalypse is their final, because they have every reason to skip over We Blew It, although Matt acknowledges its existence for the sake of preventing any comments asking where it was. The game is a little less directly connected to what they’d actually done, effectively being a CoD-style prop hunt, but they happily jump into it. They play a practice round where Ian and Courtney are decimated as the props within a few minutes, letting Shayne and Damien take the first round as props for the actual video.

“Why am I so LARGE,” Ian complains, at the start of his and Courtney’s round as props, cycling between a dumpster, a fridge and a bathtub before trying to wedge himself on top of a staircase, barely hidden. Damien discovers and shoots him quickly, while Courtney stays silent, her own small prop helping her jump between pretty decent hiding spaces.

She feels Shayne looking at her over her shoulder a few minutes into the round, eyes looking over to confirm his glance over to her screen before he has a chance to look back at his own.

“Don’t look at my screen, Shayne, you asshole!” she calls out, admonishing him, and he laughs in response as he runs across the map to stand his character right in front of where she is. “Don’t fucking cheat!”

“I- I don’t-“ he starts, dissolving into laughter instead of actually forming a coherent sentence. Truthfully, he hadn’t really intended to look over at her and cheat, it just kind of happened, so he waves his mouse around to aim his gun anywhere but at her.

“Shayne what is she, tell me!” Damien enthuses, from across the room.

“I’m not- I’m not gonna tell, out of resp-“ he responds.

“Shayne, we’re a TEAM, who are you loyal to?” Damien pushes again, cutting him off, and it causes both Shayne and Courtney to laugh and make faces at the screen.

“You fucker,” she tells him, as he continues to stand and wave his gun around, shooting the wall above her. It causes Courtney to start moving blatantly across the map. Shayne follows her, and she can hear he’s shooting but every shot seems to wildly miss.

“I can’t- I can’t get her,” he jokes.

She manages to run into Damien’s firing line, though, and he shoots her to end their match and hand the win to Damien and Shayne.

“Sorry I asked who you’re loyal too, that was not intentional,” Damien jokes, after they outro the video and finish filming, but Shayne and Courtney merely laugh.

“I’m more team-loyal than fiancé-loyal when it comes to games, don’t worry – but I felt bad, I didn’t mean to cheat,” Shayne explains, waving it off.

————————————————

Their next shoot is a Family Style game of Fibbage: Enough About You. They have a mixture of cast and crew players, easing into the game as they enter all their own answers and lies about everyone else. Sarah is up first, and unsurprisingly, almost everyone guesses correctly that she wishes she lived closer to her family, although Spencer’s lie of “Italy” catches Tommy and Shayne out. Ian is next, asked what his last meal would be, and he gives some bullshit answer about multiple meals that no one guesses.

“Courtney’s turn!” he calls out, passing off to her.

“Okay okay- what’s my most valuable possession?” She reads out the prompt. She’d hesitated for a moment when answering that one – her answer was _so_ obvious, but she really couldn’t think of anything worth putting other than the truth.

“I didn’t know whether to go financially valuable or sentimental valuable!” Sarah complains, when the answers appear on the screen. Courtney shrugs, conspiratorially.

“Could be both!” she laughs, before looking up at the screen to start reading out the answers when they appear, “my old GameBoy, high school journals, car, engagement ring annnnddd just ring so someone’s doubled up there, giant porn collection – is that porn about giants or describing the size of the collection? – or shoes.”

“I think I- that person- meant the size of the porn collection, you know, physical porn isn’t much of a thing anymore, that shit’s valuable!” Ian clarifies what is clearly his answer. She rolls her eyes at him, having already guessed who wrote in that particular joke.

Ian himself is the only person to pick the first answer that gets points – Spencer’s practical, and possibly financially accurate, suggestion of her car – but everyone else centres in on the two variations of her ring. She isn’t surprised when ‘Ring’ is revealed to be Shayne’s suggestion, and it manages to fool both Tommy and Sarah.

“D’you type the same thing as me and get told to change it?” Courtney asks, twisting slightly to look back at where he’s sitting up on the bench behind her own place on the couch.

“Of course,” Shayne laughs. He gets the points for the correct answer, as do Damien and Spencer.

“You sure your car isn’t worth more?” Ian jokes, in the space before the next prompt comes up.

“I don’t know, actually, but I got that car cheap,” Courtney laughs, shaking off the question behind it, “The ring definitely wins on sentimental value, though.”

She lets herself glance back up at Shayne again when she says it, watching as he gives her a soft, affectionate smile and reaches forward to squeeze her shoulder.

————————————————

“So like – do you not know how much your ring was?” Ian asks, conversationally, after they finish the actual game.

“I mean, I haven’t asked, so I guess not. I don’t really- it doesn’t really matter. I care a lot more about what it represents and how it looks, which are both perfect, so,” she attempts to shrug it off as Shayne moves to walk by her side as the group slowly navigate back towards the office, given they now have a break between shoots.

“You keeping quiet on how much you dropped on that hey Shayne?” Ian brings him into the conversation, not letting it go just yet. He shrugs, too.

“I was adamant I wouldn’t ever tell Courtney at the time, but I don’t know.”

“Why keep it quiet? And I mean, I’m not debating it, I only found out how much mine was when I had to list it on our home and contents insurance policy,” Sarah muses.

“I know I’ve got a reputation for kind of being stingy and careful with my money and rationalising my way out of ever spending it – I didn’t exactly want to get teased about the fact I rationalised myself into spending for this one thing. Also, like, it really wasn’t ever about that, it was just – I wanted to get the right ring, and it cost whatever it did,” Shayne explains, a little awkwardly.

“Which is why I haven’t asked,” Courtney replies, reaching out to slide her arm around his waist in the process and squeezing lightly. She hopes it conveys the reassurance that she is happy with whatever he’s comfortable with. The others, thankfully, accept that as the end of the conversation and split their different ways to return to their desks as they step back into the office. Courtney goes to do the same, but Shayne gently redirects her with an arm around her shoulders over to the empty break room. He turns to face her when they stop in the far, most hidden corner of the room, taking gentle hold of her hands in his.

“You get what I mean about money not being the big factor, yeah?” he asks, voice soft and a little nervous. Courtney merely nods, so he continues, “are you curious?”

“Sometimes, yeah, but I don’t want you to tell me unless you actually want to. I really don’t care – and you understand what I mean by that, yeah?” she answers, lowering her own voice to just above a whisper.

“I know what you mean,” he confirms, “I’d kind of forgotten about it until it came up then but- I kind of want to tell you, suddenly.”

“You can if you’d like,” she encourages him.

“Just over ten thousand,” he nods, glancing away briefly before letting his eyes fall back to hers, not missing the slight surprise in them.

“Wow. Shayne tight-ass Topp actually rationalised spending that much?” she queries, although she’s clearly teasing, and he gives an embarrassed laugh in response.

“More than you expected?” he turns the question back on her.

“I didn’t really expect anything. I mean – I’ve seen it, I knew it wasn’t going to be a small number, but I hadn’t really quantified anything. I don’t actually know how much jewellery costs,” she reassures him, and he nods.

“Yeah. It- I mean, I admit it’s a lot for me, but then, I didn’t exactly see it the same way I usually do. Because yeah, I’m a bit stingy with money sometimes, but only when I worry about whether something is worth the money, and I didn’t have that problem here at all. Because it’s your engagement ring, it’s probably one of the most important things I’ll ever buy,” he explains, dropping her hands only to wrap his arms around her shoulders and pull her into a loose hug. She leans forward in response, pressing a soft kiss against his lips.

“I kind of want to buy you something so you have something too,” Courtney murmurs, a few moments later.

“I want to wear an engagement something too, I want to have some symbol of us on me always but- I don’t really want a ring, because I want to save my one ring I’ll wear forever for a wedding ring. But I don’t know what else,” he shrugs, and it pulls them ever so slightly out of their embrace, although they don’t let go of each other.

“The only other thing I can think of is a bracelet,” she admits, “would you wear an appropriately styled bracelet?”

“Maybe - What kind are you thinking?”

They end up at a jewellery store together after work the same day, browsing the admittedly small collection of men’s jewellery by themselves for a moment before a sales assistant approaches and asks if they can help.

“Possibly - so, we’re engaged, and we’re kind of looking for something he can wear as well, but probably not a ring because we’re saving that for the wedding ring,” Courtney explains, the shop assistant nodding and considering for a moment.

“A gold bangle or bracelet might be one consideration, if you come over here-“ the assistant starts, and they follow her further into the store.

An hour later - including one break to get smoothies while they waited for engraving - Courtney is holding a bag from the jewellers, refusing to hand it over just yet because she wouldn’t let him know exactly what she did get engraved on the small rectangular plate sitting near the clasp of the solid gold chain.

She guides Shayne to sit down on the couch with her only a few moments after they arrive home, and she flips open the bracelet box much like he did with her ring.

“I love you, I’ve been wanting to do this for a while so consider this a late engagement gift or something but - you’re everything to me and I’m so excited to spend our lives together,” she tells him, warmly, and he can feel his eyes watering slightly in response as she pulls the chain out of the box and undoes the clasp, before doing it up around his left wrist. He quickly flips his wrist around to see the engraved plate.

“Forever, love C”.


	67. Chapter 61: Quite A Few Siblings

They had debated the attendee list for their engagement-party-of-sorts-but-3-months-late for a while. Some of it was clear: all four of their parents, Shayne’s brothers and the kids, the siblings Courtney actually knew and spent time with at some point in her life and their kids. They weren’t sure where to go from there.

“What about some of your work friends? I haven’t seen Damien for so long!” Rob had enthused, when they’d brought the topic up over a relaxed dinner at Shayne’s parents’ place not long before they went on their Colorado holiday.

“I mean, I don’t really want to invite everyone from work, we don’t exactly see them all socially outside of work things,” Courtney tells Shayne, when they’re talking it over by themselves later, “but not sure where we draw the line. And I don’t know if I want to invite any of my non-work friends, since as cool as they are, they’ve never expressed much interest in knowing my family.”

“I get that. I mean, I almost feel like we should invite Damien and Liv – and then Sam, I guess – given they already know parts of our families anyway…” Shayne shrugs, trailing off. Courtney gives a non-committal hum, signifying her mild disagreement.

“I get that, but would it be weird to have all family just plus a couple of friends?”

“Maybe. I dunno.”

Liv and Sam make their question on whether to invite them a little easier – when Courtney mentions their plans for the 4th of July weekend, Olivia goes into an excited ramble about the trip to Mexico she’s taking with Sam and some of their other friends. So, obviously, they don’t get an invite to the party.

“Hey, Damien, weird thing,” Shayne corners him, a couple weeks out from the party, “so like – Court and I toyed with the idea of inviting friends to this little party we’re having too, and both our Dads specifically asked if you were coming, but like- everyone else we were going to ask is otherwise busy, and I know you aren’t planning anything, so I guess… open invitation if you want to drop by, but no pressure if you wouldn’t be comfortable just with us and family.”

“I mean, I get on pretty well with Chris and I’ve spent time with both of your parents – it’s at her Dad’s place, yeah?” Damien answers, Shayne simply nodding, “I’ll let you know, but I might drop by if you truly don’t mind. Don’t let your parents force you to invite me.”

“It’s not that at all, we’d be cool with you being there,” Shayne replies, with a laugh, and Damien grins.

“Is our best friend Nathan going to be there?”

“Of course.”

————————————————

“What’s got you all nervous?” Courtney’s Dad asks, walking into the kitchen where she is running her hands through her hair as she sits at the bench eating breakfast, a couple of hours before their party is due to start on the 4th. Her and Shayne had made the decision to stay over at her Dad’s place the night before, and while one of her older siblings was also there with their kids, they seemed to be sleeping in. Shayne, for his part, had popped out to go to the gym early.

“I dunno,” she tries to brush him off, but instead of continuing through the room, Roger pauses opposite her at the bench, arms crossed in front of himself.

“You know today’s going to be great, right? It’s all chill, I know we’re all looking forward to hanging out with Shayne’s family and from what I’ve heard they’re the same,” he reassures her, and Courtney nods.

“Oh, I know, I’m not really worried about that. And LA is being stereotypical as ever and giving us a great day for it but I just…” she trails off, “ugh, so I didn’t tell you at the time, but Shayne’s oldest brother Brian isn’t super liked by their family, and he made a really gross joke about me just being Shayne’s random drunk hookup from a work party when I was up in Seattle last Christmas. And like, his family were _so_ behind me, Rob and Dianne got super angry at him and he apologised and all. But he lives off in New York and never goes to family things, so we were a tiny bit surprised he actually said yes to our little 4th of July lunch thing.”

“Ah,” Roger nods, “does he have a partner or someone he’s bringing?”

“Nope. He’s married to his work,” Courtney laughs, although with little humour, “he did say at Christmas that he was going to make more of an effort with family things, and Chris said he’s talked to him about all this recently and it’s all good, but I dunno.”

“He wouldn’t be coming if he wasn’t trying to be better,” her Dad tells her. Their conversation ends there, though, both heads turning as Shayne wanders into the room, evidently having returned from the gym.

“Morning Roger, hey Court,” he greets both of them, wandering over to lean down and press a quick kiss to Courtney’s cheek. She feels herself blush in response, still feeling mildly self-conscious whenever they’re affectionate in front of family.

“Morning Shayne, how was the gym?” Roger asks, conversationally.

“Oh, you know, pretty quiet. Apparently not many people want to work out at 6am on the 4th of July,” Shayne shrugs, as if making fun of his own plans, before departing the kitchen to go and freshen up after his workout.

“You really did get yourself the hot, fit guy for the future husband there, didn’t ya, Courtney?” her Dad jokes, after Shayne’s stepped out of the room.

“Oh my god, shut up,” she shakes her head, laughing off his comment as she stands from the stool she’s been sitting on to wash up her dishes from breakfast.

“Just sayin, Court. You can’t pretend you aren’t attracted to him, you are engaged to him,” her Dad continues to wind her up, and she gives an embarrassed sigh as she looks up at the ceiling.

“I mean, obviously, Dad.”

He lets her leave the conversation there, thankfully, and she steps out of the room to head back up to the room she was sharing with Shayne, deciding she may as well get ready properly so she doesn’t have to later just before people arrive.

————————————————

“So lovely to finally meet you, Roger!” Dianne greets Courtney’s Dad with enthusiasm when he answers the door alongside Shayne a couple of hours later. Shayne gives a rough introduction between his parents and Courtney’s Dad, before leading them through the house to the open-plan living area, back glass doors open out to the patio and back garden.

“Hi Dianne, Rob,” Courtney calls out her greeting with a smile, trying to extricate herself from her nephew’s attention. She succeeds, handing him off to his mother – her older sister – so she can stand to wander over and greet their first arrivals (other than those staying in the house).

The doorbell rings consistently from there on: Chris, Julie and the kids are not far behind Dianne and Rob, and while Chris and Julie settle into conversation with the rest of the adults, Nathan rushes off to greet Courtney’s other nephews and Rosie glues herself to her side. Courtney’s mother is next, followed by Kari and the remainder of her attending siblings and their children.

“Who are we still waiting on?” Roger asks Courtney when she steps away for a moment to look over the room.

“Brian, Dianne said he got caught in traffic but he’ll be here in a few. And Damien, but he said he’d be a little late, had some work to do this morning first,” she explains, before letting her attention fall back to the room at large.

Dianne is locked in conversation with Kari and the group of three boys playing just outside on the patio, Nathan having quickly jumped into socialising with Courtney’s other nephews. The rest of the group is dotted around the living room, every conversation a mix of people from across their families – Courtney’s mother is sitting with Rosie, Shayne and one of her brothers; Julie is sitting with her older sister and her sister’s husband, plus her older brother, the parent of the other two kids – her nieces –, themselves sitting not far away playing with a pile of legos, Chris and her brother’s wife just behind them on the couch.

There’s a hum of comfortable conversation in the air, interspersed with happy squeals from the children in various states of energy and play. The morning had started cool enough, but the heat is gradually growing, seeping a comfortable warmth through the house from the open back patio doors.

“I’ll get it,” Courtney brushes her Dad off when the doorbell rings next. She glances over to see Shayne raise an inquisitive eyebrow, but she hopes he can tell from her glance that she’s okay. If it’s Damien, it’s fine, anyway. If it’s Brian, then…

She’ll manage.

Her Dad’s front door is partially glass panelled, but she forces herself to pull it open before she actually registers which person she is seeing through the door, stepping back and away from the door as she opens it wide.

“Hey! Come in,” she greets Brian, inwardly cursing the slight undertone of nerves she can hear in her own voice.

“Hey Courtney, it’s great to see you again, thanks so much for inviting me to this,” Brian tells her, a persistent smile on his face as he steps inside and they let the door fall closed behind them. He holds out a hand towards her, and she makes a point of accepting his handshake offer with a slightly less threatening grip than the last time he’d (re-)greeted her.

“Of course, we’ve been wanting to get all our family together for a while,” Courtney answers him with her own smile, and he nods, clearly hesitating for a moment.

“Shayne mentioned that, but I wouldn’t have blamed you if I wasn’t included. I still feel terrible about last time,” he admits, and Courtney pauses, letting them come to a stop in the entryway, sensing he actually wants to talk to her alone.

“Can’t say I wasn’t a little worried and a little surprised you said yes – but, I mean, we can put that behind us, yeah? It was quite a while ago, and I thiiiiink I’m sticking around in your family for good now, so I’d like to be on good terms with you,” Courtney answers, throwing in a little joke as she glances down towards her own left hand.

“I’d be very happy to put that behind us. And yes, of course – congratulations again on the engagement,” he responds, and she can hear the relief in his tone at her brushing off of their issues.

“Thanks. Come through, we’ll introduce you to everyone. I’ve got _quite_ a few siblings, five of them here today,” she grins, and Brian openly laughs – the first time she’s heard him laugh – as they step through into the living area.

Shayne’s eyes shoot over towards them when he hears his brother’s laugh, the mild tension he’d been carrying falling off his shoulders the second he sees Courtney and Brian standing beside each other, smiling, as Courtney leads him over to the closest group of family to join in their conversation.

He can’t get away from his own group – Rosie is much too insistent on him staying put while she tells Courtney’s Mum all about Bluey, evidently yet to tire of that particular obsession almost a year later – so he has to sit and wait until Brian and Courtney find their way towards them. They’re the last group they visit, Courtney sliding into the space beside Shayne on the couch as Brian pulls over a spare chair to sit beside Courtney’s mother.

“Hey, Brian,” Shayne greets him, quickly, hoping his smile conveys how damn grateful he is that he’s making an effort this time.

“Hey, Shayne – and it’s Joanne, yeah?” he turns immediately to Courtney’s mother, before either Courtney or Shayne can introduce them. Courtney’s mother nods in confirmation, accepting his offered handshake with a smile before Shayne metaphorically steps forward to provide the final introduction, to Courtney’s youngest brother sitting down on the floor with Rosie.


	68. Chapter 62: Everyone

“Hey, kitchen?” Courtney whispers in Shayne’s ear as she wanders past where he’s been standing with both of their fathers for a moment, thirty minutes further into their gathering. Everyone had been mingling between different groups, the constant buzz of conversation filling her with almost as much warmth as the lengthening of the day. Their fathers had taken on the de facto role of hosts, refusing to let Courtney and Shayne do _too much_ themselves, and they’d been discussing whether it was time to start firing up the grill for lunch.

He excuses himself from the conversation, subtly following her through to the kitchen.

“What’s up?” he asks, although he isn’t particularly concerned given her soft expression as she leans against the kitchen counter.

“Not a whole lot, I just wanted to grab you for a couple seconds – everything’s goes really well, yeah? Everyone’s talking,” she nods, and he grins, recognising her need for some kind of mutual acknowledgement.

“Yeah, it’s really great – it’s nice,” he returns the sentiment, letting himself lean back against the counter beside her, shoulder pressed against hers. He turns his head to keep his eyes on her as she speaks again.

“Brian made a point of talking to me and making sure everything was fine with us back in the entry there – he’s really making an effort,” Courtney explains, the real reason for having pulled Shayne aside, and he nods.

“Yeah, he is, and I can tell he’s genuine. It’s all going to be fine, we might’ve had a little road block last year but – our family is good. You think we should start lunch soon?”

“Probably, it’s getting to that time,” she nods, “you know when Damien’s appearing?”

The doorbell answers the question for her, and she laughs, moving to return to the living room and step back into conversation as Shayne heads to answer the door, Courtney’s Dad joining him.

“Damien! It’s been so long! Last time I saw you I think you were kneeling in this doorway pretending to be a child,” Roger jokes, when they answer the door, Damien laughing as he steps inside.

“Have I really not seen you since we were filming here back in 2018? That’s crazy,” he nods, “sorry I’m a little late by the way, voiceover thing I had to finish this morning took longer than I thought.”

“No problem, everyone’s just hanging out, Roger and my Dad were going to start grilling soon, they won’t let anyone else help of course,” Shayne shakes his head, giving Roger a side-eye as he does. Roger simply waves him off, returning to Rob’s side as they return to the living room. “You haven’t actually met Brian before, yeah? And Court’s family other than Kari?”

“I’ve met Court’s younger brothers, but not the older siblings and their families, no,” Damien confirms, following Shayne as he starts the round of introductions. They are interrupted partway through a conversation with Courtney’s older brother and his wife ten minutes later, having done the round of introductions to everyone except the children.

“Damien!” Nathan calls out, excited, rushing in from where all six kids had ended up messing around together on the grass just past the patio. Courtney cringes when she glances over along with everyone else inside – half of the adults had gravitated outside as lunch started being cooked, while Dianne and her were flitting in and out of the kitchen to ensure all the non-grilled food was ready to go out when the two eldest men were finished at the grill. Still, there were a few people hanging around, and she knew Damien wouldn’t love the amount of attention Nathan’s enthusiasm brought.

“Hey Nathan! How are you going? You’ve got taller since I last saw you!” Damien enthuses, holding out his palm to let Nathan greet him with a firm high five, evidently choosing to ignore the attention outside of Nathan’s own.

“I’ve grown lots, I’m so tall now! And I finished first grade,” Nathan provides the most important updates, bouncing on his feet, “my Dad told me people liked our video!”

Chris wanders over to join their conversation at his son’s mention of him, Shayne laughing at Nathan’s enthusiasm as he does. It had been _quite_ a successful video – the combination of a return to the Damien and Shayne show plus the cute kid factor had done them well. At one point it hit the top 10 on Youtube’s trending page, and it was pushing 700k views.

“Yeah, you did a really great job on the video. You still playing Mario Party with your friends?” Damien asks, descending into a conversation about the video games they’re both playing – or, well, the more kid-friendly ones, in Damien’s case.

“What video is he talking about?” Courtney’s older sister asks, turning to Shayne, although Chris takes the answer, explaining Nathan’s enthusiastic idea to be in a games video last time they were in LA in January.

They sit down to lunch not much later, Courtney managing to nab a seat beside Shayne despite the fact almost no one else is sitting with the people they’d arrived with. The kids happily take their positions at the kids table off to the side, chatting happily to each other about whatever imaginary game they had invented out on the lawn before lunch.

For their part, Shayne and Courtney’s end of the table includes Dianne, Julie, and Courtney’s older sister’s husband. They engage in polite discussion about their kids – in the case of Courtney’s brother-in-law and Julie – and their work through the meal, although the occasional silence descends over the adults in the room as they eat their lunch.

Kari and Courtney’s younger brothers both step up to handle the basic clean-up after lunch, carrying everything through into the kitchen as they wave everyone else off to head out into the sun outside. The kids enlist a handful of adults to join them in a rough game outside, having located a couple of balls that Roger had conveniently left out, kicking them around between each other. Chris, Damien and Courtney’s older sister are the first to be roped into the game, Damien having been specifically targeted by Nathan running up to him with an enthusiastic request. Shayne falls into the game alongside Kari after the cleanup is finished, while Courtney takes a position on one of the chairs on the patio with her own mother and Dianne.

“Shayne’s good with kids,” her mother comments, in a lull between conversations about much lighter topics.

“Mum,” Courtney warns, sternly, not needing to look over to see Dianne’s grin in response.

“What? You’re engaged, I’m your mother, it’s about time I start bugging you about giving me grandkids,” her mother enthuses, and Courtney can’t entirely tell if she’s serious or joking – her Dad is much more the joker of her parents than her mother – but she grimaces anyway.

“You’ve already got seven grandkids. And Kari is older than me, you gotta bug her before me,” she pushes, her mother shaking her head.

“Kari isn’t going to have kids, she doesn’t do commitment.”

“You never know,” Courtney muses, trying to keep the conversation off herself.

“Oh? Do you know something I don’t?” her mother asks, and Courtney laughs.

“No, I’ve got no idea, haven’t heard anything about Kari’s dating life lately.”

“What about your kids, Dianne? Evidently Chris and Shayne- but what does Brian do?” Joanne turns the question over to the other person in the conversation, and Courtney is mildly glad.

“Brian’s racing his way up some kind of corporate consulting career path over in New York, I don’t know if he has anything remotely resembling a social life,” Dianne grins, shaking her head, “we got the two adorable grandkids in the form of Rosie and Nath, I don’t mind if we don’t have any more.”

“I’m used to big families with lots of kids, given the whole Mormon thing,” Joanne explains, “I don’t mean to seriously put pressure on you, Courtney. I just wonder.”

“No, I know,” Courtney brushes her off, shrugging, “Don’t expect kids from us anytime soon, we’re absolutely not in the right place in our lives for that at the moment. And it’s possible we might not ever be.”

“Whatever works for you, as long as you’re happy,” her mother tells her, and Courtney merely nods, letting her gaze drift away from the two motherly figures beside her to look out at where the group of kids and adults is playing around in the backyard. She vaguely hears Dianne and her own mother fall into conversation between themselves, although her eyes remain out on the scene in front of her, not able to stop herself from giggling quietly when Rosie manages to kick her youngest brother in the leg instead of the ball she was chasing.

They hadn’t put an end time on their day, content to let it naturally run as long as it did. They aren’t entirely surprised when it reaches the mid-afternoon and everyone is still finding things to talk about between each other, but it’s getting a little too hot to be outside, so everyone slowly moves back into the living area and the patio doors are drawn closed to keep the air conditioning effective.

A few of the younger kids are set down for naps in various bedrooms around the house, and Courtney’s sister’s kids settle down with a pile of legos in the smaller living room upstairs, having wanted a break away from all the adults for a while. It leaves Nathan as the only kid down in the main living area, and Chris and Julie ask him if he wants to join the other kids upstairs, but he shakes his head.

“Is that a Switch near the TV?” he asks, softly, clearly trying to be polite. Chris glances at Shayne just near them, asking a silent question, and Shayne shrugs as he looks around for and finds Roger, stepping away from them for a moment.

“Hey Roger – Nathan spotted the games consoles down by the TV, they usable?” he asks.

“Of course, of course – get Clarke to help him out, he’s the one that uses it most when I’ve got adult or otherwise kids around here,” Roger nods in confirmation.

Shayne grabs Courtney’s youngest brother’s attention, then, asking him if he can help Nathan set up the TV to play something, if they have anything kid-appropriate.

He isn’t quite sure how it happens, but quite quickly it ends up in a Nathan-vs-adults MarioKart tournament: Nathan asks both of Courtney’s younger brothers to join in, first, quickly adding in Damien, Courtney and Kari when he realises there are six controllers available. While many of the other adults keep up their comfortable conversation in various places around the room, it becomes the focal point. Shayne, for his part, nabs a spot on the couch with Chris and Julie, just off to the side of all the competitors.

Nathan wins the first round of their grand prix, and it pulls a comment out of him that Shayne – and Courtney and Damien – had honestly been waiting all day for.

“Hey Damien and Shayne, maybe MarioKart can be another video for your work with me? We all got two wins when we played Mario Party so we have to have a rematch,” he enthuses, earning a round of light laughter from everyone around them.

“You like being part of our work hey Nath?” Shayne asks him, Nathan nodding enthusiastically.

“It’s fun, I get to talk and play games and my friends at school think it’s really cool!”

“How come you’ve never recruited any Miller kids – adult or otherwise – into videos huh, Courtney?” Clarke speaks up, partway through their next race, and she laughs as she fires a red shell, hitting Kari and overtaking her.

“Kari’s been in a couple, no one else has ever asked,” she laughs, “you can’t just jump into a video, anyway, you gotta have a good reason. Nathan came up with a whole pitch all on his own last time.”

“Are you guys filming much at the moment?” Chris asks, not direct enough for Nathan to pick up his question but enough that the adults understand. Courtney and Damien are both a little preoccupied by the game, so Shayne takes the answer.

“We’re on a semi-Summer break, few of the cast are out of the country on holidays, but we’re still doing the odd thing here and there with those of us that are around,” he nods.

“How long are you guys in LA for?” Damien asks, turning towards Chris when they finish their final grand prix race a few minutes later, Nathan having come out on top. Courtney’s youngest brothers offer to show Nathan a new game after they finish, everyone else moving away from the TV and splitting back into smaller conversations around the room. Courtney, for her part, hangs around by the sofa, wondering what Damien is asking.

“A couple of weeks this time, actually,” Chris supplies, “if you guys did want to do something else with Nathan – I mean, we can organise it, but we’re just hanging around staying with Mum and Dad for a while.”

“Sure, sure. We’ll work something out, as long as everyone’s cool with it,” Damien nods.

The attendees slowly start thinning out from there. Brian is the first to leave, although he’s quickly followed by Damien, Courtney’s mother, and all three of her brothers, the eldest and his family needing to travel back to their own place further down towards San Diego. Chris and Julie hang around a little longer, before convincing their kids to leave with a promise that they’ll get to spend more time with Shayne and Courtney another day.

Rob and Dianne are the last true guests remaining, given everyone else is sleeping at Roger’s house again that night, but they hang back and help tidy up the dining room and the kitchen from lunch, alongside Shayne and Courtney.

“Thanks so much for letting us use your place, Roger,” Shayne thanks him, when the five of them are putting away the final dishes in the kitchen.

“No problem, guys, it was great to have everyone here and meet everyone finally,” he enthuses, with a glance over to Rob and Dianne, who quickly give their agreement.

“How did you two think it went, Courtney and Shayne?” Dianne turns the question on them. Courtney can’t help but pause before she answers, glancing over at Shayne to see him already looking at her.

“It was really nice,” Courtney answers, after a moment, knowing her voice is a little softer than usual.

“Yeah, we’re happy everyone seemed to get along so well,” Shayne adds, smiling sweetly before he turns to put the final couple of glasses away.


	69. Chapter 63: Sleepover

“You don’t have to stay here tonight, you know. You’re welcome to, but if you and Shayne want privacy I won’t be offended,” Courtney’s Dad tells her quietly, when she’s helping him clean up after the quiet dinner they’d had with the few people still left at the house – them, Shayne, her brother and his family.

“We did say we were going to stay here tonight,” Courtney replies, and she knows it isn’t really a point either way, but she isn’t sure what else to say.

“Go on, you two aren’t subtle, I can tell you want to talk alone,” Roger reinforces.

“I’ll talk to Shayne,” she shrugs.

She doesn’t so much talk to him as she does tell him her Dad had given them the out to just go home and she wanted to take it. He agrees wholeheartedly, and fifteen minutes of finishing clean-up and goodbyes later they’re in Shayne’s car on the freeway, Courtney twisted sideways in her seat so she can keep her eyes on him as they drive.

They don’t break their silence for much of the drive. Truthfully, Courtney doesn’t feel she has much to say. She’d told him what happened with Brian, and they’d both experienced the rest of the party. They both knew it had gone well. They both knew how nice it felt to have their families mingling in relaxed comfort for so many hours.

“Can we just go to bed and cuddle?” Shayne asks, as they’re both quickly unpacking the things they’d taken to her Dad’s not long after they get home. It sounds like a perfect idea, so Courtney nods, immediately moving into her getting-ready-for-bed routine alongside his so they can slip under the covers and not move until morning.

————————————————

They both sleep in. The party had flowed as perfectly as they could’ve hoped for, but between the organising beforehand and the hours of socialising, they were a little tired the Sunday morning. Shayne forgoes the gym, instead letting himself remain sprawled across their bed with Courtney’s head against his shoulder while his hand softly plays with her hair. They hadn’t talked a whole lot the previous night, instead emotionally debriefing through a combination of soft kisses and gentle hands holding them close together.

“Yesterday was great. It was as casual and relaxing as we wanted but everyone was there and it was… everyone implicitly recognised they’re all family now. Nath called your siblings’ kids his cousins, he was so excited to finally have cousins,” Shayne breaks their silence with a meandering statement of satisfaction. She returns the sentiment, letting them talk softly until they eventually find the motivation to step out of bed.

They have a quiet day, to balance out the previous. Their major distraction comes in the mid-afternoon, Shayne’s phone ringing. He ambles across the room to grab it from where he left it, tapping the screen to answer it and bringing the phone to his ear as he moves back to sit on the couch beside where Courtney is sat sorting through her makeup brushes.

“Hey Dames,” Shayne greets him.

“Hey hey, put me on speaker, want to talk to Court too,” Damien requests, Shayne pulling the phone away from his ear and doing just that as he nudges Courtney to get her attention.

“Damimen!” Courtney greets him, Damien laughing in response to the nickname.

“Hey Court. So like, I don’t know what else you talked about with Chris when I wasn’t there, but I had an idea with the Nathan stuff?” he offers his reason for calling.

“Oh?” Shayne presses, intrigued, Courtney listening as she continues to try and prioritise which brushes need to be cleaned and which just need to be replaced.

“Obviously it’d only be if you guys and Nathan and his parents were all up for it – but since he seemed pretty keen on the whole thing, maybe it’d be worth filming a couple of videos, different games, make a little series of it? I’m sure we could come up with some 7-year-old appropriate games,” Damien suggests.

“No, I think that’s a great idea,” Shayne affirms quickly, “He’d definitely be up for it, and you know our producers liked it. Any thoughts, Court?”

“I think it’s a great idea, Dames. I’m happy to jump in too if you need a fourth player, but happy to leave it mostly to you guys too,” she nods.

Shayne raises the idea in their work Slack not long after they end the call, although he makes sure to credit Damien for the idea. Being a Sunday evening, the only response he gets is a ‘viewsssssss’ from Ian. He calls Chris and Julie later in the evening, and they’re on board, Nathan squealing with excitement in the background when Julie confirms with him.

————————————————

The logistical arrangement around Nathan’s filming wasn’t their idea. They’d been on speakerphone with Chris, Julie and Nathan planning their filming plan for the following Friday, musing about how best to get Nathan to Burbank without anyone having to drive out of their way.

“I mean, we’ll all be together nearer your place anyway on Thursday afternoon if you’re going to join us then?” Julie says, “not that that helps us for Friday morning-“

“Are you coming to the beach with us Uncle Shayne and Aunty Courtney?” Nathan speaks up, realising what his mother was talking about. Dianne had suggested a picnic at Santa Monica on Thursday for lunch, so the kids could have a little fun at the amusement park on the pier in the afternoon. Shayne and Courtney, for their part, had been invited but had not yet confirmed.

“We’ll be there Thursday at the beach guys, yeah, we finish work early so we can head down there - we might not get there for lunch though,” Shayne answers.

“If that’s near your house and your work I could have a sleepover at your house Thursday night?” Nathan suggests, and it gives the four adults pause. Not that Santa Monica was exactly near their place – but it was closer.

Their apartment wasn’t tiny, but it wasn’t huge. They didn’t have a spare room or a spare bed. They’d never looked after a kid overnight before-

“I mean, that might work buddy, but you can’t just invite yourself to someone else’s house,” Chris tells Nathan, although Shayne can tell Chris is intrigued by the idea.

“Our apartment is pretty small, Nathan, if you did have a sleepover here you might have to sleep on our couch,” Shayne offers, testing the waters.

“That’s okay! I’m small anyway!” Nathan seems unperturbed by the possibility. Chris engages him in conversation about his own recent growth spurt for thirty seconds, giving time for the two on the other end of the call to silently discuss.

“We think you having a sleepover with us on Thursday night so you can come to work with us on Friday is a good idea, Nath, as long as you’re going to be okay away from your Mum and Dad?” Courtney supplies their answer.

“Yes!!! I love you Mum and Daddy but I think Uncle Shayne and Aunty Courtney can look after me too,” he enthuses, as if reassuring his parents. Chris laughs, before approving the idea, their call coming to a close not long later.

————————————————

When Shayne & Courtney arrive at Santa Monica mid-afternoon on Thursday, they find Dianne, Chris and Rosie engaged in a sandcastle building competition down near the water’s edge. The beach is packed, but they’d managed to seek out dry space for their towels further up the beach and somewhere down near the water.

“Where’s Julie and Nath?” Shayne asks, when Chris stands up and leads them to where they’ve left the rest of their things.

“Up on the pier, he wanted to see if he’s tall enough for the roller coaster. He isn’t, but we’ll let him check anyway,” Chris grins, “I’m gonna hang back here for a bit, up to you guys what you do.”

Shayne elects to stay and catch up with his brother - or, well, talk football with him - but Courtney leaves her things and immediately heads back down to the water to join Rosie and Dianne. She can’t exactly exercise her entire artistic repertoire to help with building Rosie’s dream sandcastle palace, given the only tools they have are their hands and a small plastic shovel, but between the three of them - and Nathan, when he returns - they manage something that they’re proud of.

They all head up onto the pier when the kids tire of playing in the sand and the shallows of the water, Dianne leading them to the Ferris wheel first. They have to split across two carts, but they all have a go for the sake of the kids anyway. They do wander around other parts of the carnival for a while, too, but Rosie is starting to get a little tired as the afternoon pushes towards evening, so they soon decide to call it a day.

“You absolutely sure you want to stay with Shayne and Courtney tonight, Nathan? You going to be good without me or Mum?” Chris confirms, as they all walk back up to the car parks behind the beach.

“Of course I am Dad I’m not a baby,” Nathan grumbles, “staying with them is less scary than my friends anyway because I don’t know my friends Mum and Dads but I love Uncle Shayne & Aunty Courtney.”

Courtney is too busy letting Rosie continually jump up and swing between her and Julie, gripping each of their hands, but Shayne hears Nathan’s comment and can’t help but grin in response.

Nathan is buzzing with excitement when his small backpack of things he’ll need for the night is switched into Shayne’s car and he jumps into the back seat, waving to his parents and Dianne. Courtney drives, this time, Shayne twisting in his own seat to talk to Nathan the whole way back to their apartment. Truthfully, they’re probably more nervous than Nathan is, but they both try to hide it.

“Ohmigod your plants are so pretty!” Nathan gasps, immediately gravitating towards Courtney’s plant collection when they step inside. It surprises her, that it was what piqued his interest, but she follows him over to the edge of their little dining area near some of her plants and indulges him as they discuss their favourites.

Shayne gives him a brief tour of their apartment - so effectively, he points out the bathroom - and it spurs Nathan on to widen his focus and start taking in the rest of their place. They had tidied up and hidden away anything that wasn’t quite so kid-friendly, of course, although his attention didn’t stay in any one place long enough that he would’ve caught their slightly more adult books or anything anyway (not that they owned erotica, just, some of Courtney’s film books were full of nudity).

“Your house would be a really good place to make a fort,” Nathan informs them after a minute of wandering around, his voice betraying how important he thinks that idea is.

“Oh? Why do you think that?” Shayne prompts, Nathan quickly starting to launch into an assessment of how their furniture already made different rooms and they had so many books they could easily use to hold sheets in place.

“Over there could be like...” Nathan trails off, pausing in concentrating for a moment, “do you have like some paper so I can draw what I mean?”

“Of course!” Courtney tells him, quickly jumping up from where they’d all settled in the living area to grab one of her sketchbooks and some drawing implements, flipping to a blank page near the back and sitting it in front of him on the coffee table. Nathan immediately goes into drawing out his imaginary fortification of their apartment, Courtney taking a seat right beside him on the floor in front of the couch. She grabs a pencil of her own, too, adding in little details here or there at his suggestion. She desperately wishes they could turn around and tell him they should actually build the fort - she knows neither her or Shayne are too old to enjoy that idea - but she locks eyes with Shayne over Nathan’s head to confirm that this time, they really can’t. They need the apartment to be navigable, and they don’t own quite as many blankets as his design requires.

Nathan doesn’t seem to mind that his fort is imaginary. After they finish that drawing, he flips over the page and starts drawing another even wilder actual fort, drawing on Courtney’s assistance to add in a convincing moat and cannons for defence. Shayne had been sitting with them, but Courtney sees him get up and amongst his movements around the apartment she knows he’s taking photos of her and Nathan.

“Your ring is so sparkly. You didn’t have that in January did you?” Nathan abruptly changes their conversation, still drawing.

“That’s right, Shayne gave it to me in April. It’s my engagement ring,” Courtney explains, letting her hand still on top of the paper so Nathan can look closer at the ring. He doesn’t touch it, which has her quietly giving a sigh of relief, given she didn’t want to have to clean kid fingerprints off it.

“An engagement ring means you’re going to get married like my Mum and Dad right? And then you’ll be my Aunty Courtney forever?” Nathan confirms.

“It does, that’s right,” Courtney confirms, not able to stop herself from laughing out her own excitement when he responds with an exclamation of enthusiasm.

They didn’t need to be nervous. Shayne suggests ordering pizza for dinner, and unsurprisingly, Nathan is very on board. He finally finds himself in front of their collection of consoles under the TV between when they order food and when it arrives, and with permission, he sorts through their games with Shayne sitting beside him, letting him know which ones are kid-appropriate. He settles on Rocket League on the PS4 as what he wants to try playing - politely, of course, making sure that’s okay first - but they are interrupted by the arrival of their pizza before they start.

They eat the pizza up at their dining table - normally Shayne and Courtney would have no issue playing PS4 while eating takeout on the couch, but they figured they’d be a little more responsible for Nathan’s sake - before the three of them settle into a few games of Rocket League. Nathan struggles, initially, so they switch to single player with just him, Shayne sitting close beside him helping him get a handle on the controls.

Chris had let them know that, given they were on holiday, Nathan’s bedtime had been pushed out a little past 9pm when he was up for it. Unsurprisingly, he was up for it tonight, and they let him think he’d convinced them he could play games until 9pm itself, then it’d be bedtime. It works, and at 9pm sharp he puts down the controller and volunteers to start his bedtime routine. Courtney has to prompt him to brush his teeth, of course, but he does comply, and Shayne grabs a spare sheet, pillows and a blanket to turn the couch into Nathan’s bed for the night while he’s in the bathroom with Courtney. He makes the split-second decision to reach behind the TV and unplug all their consoles, too, just in case Nathan wants to be rebellious and try and play more games after he’s meant to be asleep.

“We’ll leave our bedroom door open a little bit, and if you need anything at all during the night you can come and wake one of us up, yeah?” Shayne confirms, when Nathan is all ready for bed and half sitting under the covers.

“Yeah,” he nods, before outstretching his arms, “can I have goodnight hugs?”

They each give him the requested hug goodnight, of course, before he settles in under the covers as they flick off the lights in most of their apartment and retreat into their own room.

It’s nowhere near when they usually sleep themselves, so Shayne grabs a book to read by lamplight as Courtney grabs her laptop and headphones to catch up on some YouTube content for a little while before they too settle under the covers into sleep.


	70. Chapter 64: Four Players

Shayne is the first in the house to wake up the following morning, as is often the case. He grabs a shower almost as soon as he gets up, knowing there will be competition for the bathroom with all three of them getting ready. When he emerges, Courtney is still asleep, but he finds Nathan sitting up in his bed colouring in the second fort sketch from the previous night.

“Good morning Nath, did you sleep okay?” Shayne asks him, Nathan’s eyes energetic and awake when he flicks them over to glance at Shayne.

“Good morning Uncle Shayne, yeah, I had a good sleep,” he answers, “is Aunty Courtney sleeping in?”

“She’s still asleep right now but she’ll be awake soon. Do you want to get ready for the day first before she gets up?”

Nathan nods his agreement, requesting Shayne’s help to put together his outfit for the day, since his Dad put multiple in his bag. Shayne explains that they’ll take the others to work so he can change between videos, so it looks like they shot them on different days, Nathan nodding along at the explanation before he wanders into the bathroom and into the shower.

“Morning Chris, all going good over here, Nath getting ready for the day at the moment,” Shayne texts through an update to his brother, before stepping back into their bedroom to gently wake Courtney as he rubs a soft pattern across her arm.

“Hmmm. Morning baby,” she greets him after a moment, voice still half-asleep.

“Morning love. Nathan is in the shower, thought I’d get him ready so you can have space to do your things after,” Shayne confirms, letting Courtney pull him down towards the bed so he is lying half on top of her.

She leans up to kiss him firmly, before they both sit up again, Shayne’s phone chiming with a text to interrupt anything further.

“Morning guys, thanks for the update. We knew you’d be fine, now you got your first kid sleepover down you might be in demand babysitters!” Chris’ reply is almost teasing.

“Good practice for your own kids down the track too?” His next message comes through after a moment, _definitely_ teasing. They know he’s joking, they’ve talked to Chris and Julie about their own lack of desire to have children, so Shayne simply sends an eye-rolling emoji at Courtney’s suggestion and heads back into the kitchen to start getting their breakfasts ready.

Nathan’s excitement grows steadily through the morning. He chats excitedly about nothing in particular over breakfast, and afterwards, he bounds over to Courtney’s keyboard with a question in his eyes that they can’t quite say no to. She pulls the volume way down for the sake of their neighbours, but she lets him tap away at the keyboard making discordant noise and she tries to teach him a few notes until it’s time for them to all head to the studio.

The office is fairly quiet by its own standards when they arrive. Almost all of the Mythical team is off for their Summer break, and Smosh only has a handful of crew members and support staff around – plus, of course, Damien to join in the shoots with Noah. Nathan excitedly greets everyone he remembers from the previous time he’d been in the office to shoot their first video, before locking one hand in Damien’s as his new best friend, by his own declaration, shows him around to meet everyone else while Shayne and Courtney take a moment to check emails and the like.

They had settled on four games they were going to try and play: Mario Kart, of course; Smash Bros; a Minecraft fighting map and a final return to Mario Party.

Courtney steps in as the fourth player for their Mario Kart game, and they select the Star Cup as their grand prix to compete in, assuming between the right amount of talking and cuts it will make for a decent 20-minute video. Much like the previous time, Sarah steps in to direct, although she tries to keep her language kid-friendly and less actor-technical so she doesn’t confuse Nathan.

“Hello gamers and welcome back to the Damien and Shayne show with guests!” Damien calls out the intro, to start the game, “we got our buddy Nathan back in plus she wouldn’t leave the studio so here’s Courtney too!”

“Hey, rude, Mario Kart just works better with four players, right?” Courtney responds, looking to either of her family members for support.

“More players is always better!” Nathan enthuses, and she cheers in response before they slide into character and Kart selection.

“I want everyone to defend why their character is best – Nath, you want to go first?” Shayne offers, when they are all finalising their picks.

“Luigi is still better because he’s green, and motorbikes are obviously faster than karts,” Nathan grins, “Aunty Courtney might come second with Shy Guy, though.”

“I mean, Luigi’s pretty cool, but Shy Guy is literally a ghost so he can do anything, right? Plus, his parachute is a cloud, so floating and all. Damien?” she passes the question on, and Damien grins.

“WAAAAAAH,” he calls out, looking pointedly at the camera and saying nothing else.

“Well, right then,” Shayne raises an eyebrow, “I got Yoshi because like…”

He doesn’t continue, simply staring directly at one of the cameras and sticking out his tongue for a second. It makes both Nathan and Damien laugh, and they quickly transition into their first race.

Nathan and Courtney are, to put it lightly, aggressive with the strategy. They both hang back early on, driving out of their way to make sure they get double boxes and leaving the track behind littered with banana peels while Shayne and Damien quickly jump into a back-and-forth between first and second place. It pays off for the former pair, both of them cheering in the second lap when Shayne and Damien start repetitively hitting banana peels. Courtney jumps into first as they cross the line for the start of the third lap, Nathan now battling Damien for second place. He manages to hold Damien off for the remainder of the lap, although he doesn’t quite get to Courtney – even with the CPUs throwing a blue shell her way.

“Did you steal my strategy from last time we played Aunty Courtney?” Nathan asks at the end of the round, and she laughs.

“I promise I didn’t, good strategy though- you think we should team up to try and keep Damien and Shayne out of the top three?” she asks, conspiratorially. He brings a finger to his chin in contemplation for a moment as the other two put on expressions of offence.

“I don’t think I trust them not to team up against us…”

So, they form unofficial team alliances as they head into the second track. Their progress is a little messier this time: none of them quite get the luck of the item drops that Courtney and Nathan had the previous round, and although Damien finishes first and the other three are shortly behind them, they’d been all over the place for most of the track. Shayne has the most success in the third race, although Nathan manages to execute a well-timed blue shell to scrape past him just before the finish line, causing the room to erupt in loud complaints and cheers.

Nathan’s consistency pays off, though: he gets his second first place in the last track, and paired with his two second-place finishes early on, it nets him the grand prix win and he openly celebrates with Courtney – she had come in third overall, after Damien in second – as the other two handle the outro.

“Hey Nathan, you wanna come back for more videos for another rematch?” Damien asks, as a final line, hoping Nathan has remembered that they’d explained they would act as if the videos weren’t all filmed together.

“Yeah! But I’m gonna win again!” Nathan enthuses, Sarah calling cut after he does.

They take a break between shoots, then. Courtney isn’t going to be part of any of the others, so she wanders back to the office to handle a few sketch-writing ideas she’s had floating around in her mind. Shayne excuses himself to the bathroom for a moment, after silently confirming with Damien that he is cool to keep Nathan occupied. They wander back towards the kitchen in search of water, surprised to run into Mythical Chef Josh when they do (especially given he has a whole new kitchen set elsewhere now, too).

“Oh, hey Josh! Hey, Nathan, this is Josh, he makes cooking and food videos for another Youtube channel we share our offices with. Josh, this is Nathan, Shayne and Courtney’s nephew,” Damien handles the introductions. Nathan seems to turn shy for a moment, before quickly snapping out of it to give an enthusiastic greeting.

“Hi Josh!”

“Hey guys, nice to meet you Nathan!”

“What brings you in, thought you guys were all off on Summer break?” Damien queries, grabbing two bottles of water from the fridge, passing one over to Nathan as he gestures for the younger boy so slide up onto one of the stools beside him, opposite Josh.

“I’m actually doing some experimenting for some stuff we’re filming after the break to get used to the new kitchen, a couple of will it episodes – which, Nathan, so basically like, we do these videos where we take one thing and make it heaps of weird different flavours – so like, we did mac and cheese a little while ago, but we made it in-n-out mac n cheese, and kit kat mac and cheese, and cockroach mac and cheese…” Josh trails off.

“Ooooh, kit kat mac and cheese sounds good!” Nathan grins, before scrunching his face up, “but like, can you actually eat cockroaches? That seems icky.”

“Technically you can but they taste pretty bad,” Josh admits, “we’re planning on doing Cheetos this time, though. You guys have any ideas what I could make Cheetos out of?”

“You should do like chocolate Cheetos!” Nathan jumps in first, “like, I dunno, Oreo or something?”

“Oh that’s actually a really good idea, I might try that,” Josh nods, evidently impressed with Nathan’s ideas.

“Oh god, Josh, what insane food are you telling Nath about-“ Shayne starts, wandering into the room.

“Kit kat mac and cheese!” Nathan supplies the answer with enthusiasm, Shayne laughing as Josh looks mildly guilty for half a second.

“He did give me a great idea for an Oreo Cheeto though. But hey, I’m just fu- messing around in the kitchen today, y’all going to be around for lunch? I can make something fun,” Josh offers.

“I don’t know whether to trust you, man. You know, Nathan, one time I was on an episode of one of Josh’s shows and he made me eat spiders. For real,” Shayne grins, Nathan’s eyes growing wide.

“Why do you cook so many bugs?!” his confused question is clearly for Josh, who really can’t come up with a good answer.

“Okay, so I cook some weird things, but for real, how long are you guys around for today?”

“We’re here until mid-afternoon, doing a few more game shoots with Nathan since he’s in town. Just, remember he’s got a 7-year-old’s palette, not Damien’s weird one, right?” Shayne grins, and Nathan frowns.

“Hey, I eat adult food! I don’t even eat from kids menus anymore!”

“I’m sure you do Nathan, but Damien thinks snails are a good food, so I think his is definitely weird.”

“Ew, snails are slimy.”

They end their conversation with Josh not long later, wandering back to the studio for their next shoot. The Smash Bros shoot is a little less organised than the Mario Kart one had been: they fight chaotically on-screen and off, Damien starting it by hitting Shayne with a pillow grabbed from the chairs behind the couch and Nathan continuing it by (lightly) hitting Shayne in the arm when he executes a questionably fair move against him in one of their bouts. It’s loud and fun and energetic, though, and when they reach the end, they aren’t quite sure who won.

“Well, I mean, I beat Shayne- but Damien beat me but Shayne beat Damien so like-“ Nathan tries to work it out, before trailing off into clear confusion, “I think that needs math to work out a winner and I’m bad at math.”

“Math is gross,” Shayne agrees, “so I guess we all won? Or we all lost? I dunno, guess we gotta play more games again.”

“Yeah we do, bye!” Damien calls out an abrupt finish, Sarah accepting it and calling cut.


	71. Chapter 65: Damien and Shayne and Nathan

Josh is evidently missing his usual crew of Mythical team members to try out his ideas on, so he appears at their studio with a sample of Oreo Cheetos in the short break they take between their next two shoots as they set up a Minecraft game, all three players needing an intro from one of their sound guys on how to actually play the particular competition they were going to be doing.

“Courtney told me everyone was in here, anyone want to try? I promise I already tried and they’re not terrible,” Josh gives a less-than-stellar intro, but their sound guy, one of the camera men, Damien and Nathan all opt to try.

“It’s too soggy,” their sound guy speaks up first.

“It tastes kind of like a wet chocolate cookie,” Nathan agrees, evidently realising that he’s allowed to be honest.

“Needs more cream to be an oreo too my guy,” Damien gives his feedback.

“Okay, okay, got more work to do. But thanks for the help, guys! Hey, Nathan, you do like mac and cheese right?” he adds, before he steps out of the room.

“Of course,” Nathan replies, almost aghast at the possibility that he doesn’t, before Sarah shoos Josh out of the room and they settle in for their third shoot.

It’s a little more low-key at their computer setup, and it takes them a while to get the hang of the game. Damien ends up the clear winner, although Shayne and Nathan end up giving up on whatever the main point was – something to do with arrows – and instead hit each other’s characters repetitively with swords while trying to hide behind the trees. It ends up being their longest shoot by far, and they figure a lot of it will be cut although there should still be enough to actually make a video.

“That one didn’t go as good, right?” Nathan asks Shayne after they cut, walking beside him back to the office.

“Yeah buddy, sometimes things don’t – but the editors will be able to take bits and pieces of it and still make it good, I bet. And I think us sword fighting is probably going to be most of it,” Shayne answers, before switching topics, “we get a longer break now for lunch, we can order food here if you want, anything you feel like?”

“Josh did say he’d cook something for lunch… I couldn’t tell if he was joking or not though,” Nathan muses, and Shayne laughs.

“Yeah, I can’t tell with Josh either sometimes. Come on, you want to go see his big kitchen over the other side of the building?” Shayne offers, Nathan nodding in response.

“Oh, hey guys!” Josh greets them with enthusiasm when they hesitantly wander in, finding him entirely alone in the kitchen set, “good timing, I felt like making mac and cheese anyway so I have a couple different versions that will be ready in a sec. If you want it, I guess, no pressure.”

“What versions and do any of them contain bugs?” Nathan speaks up, Shayne choosing to simply tilt his head expectantly at Josh and waiting for him to answer Nathan’s question. It doesn’t escape him that Nathan’s confidence around their office is growing as the day progresses.

“Well one of them is pretty normal but it’s got extra cool cheese and caramelised onions so it’s kind of like in-n-out animal style but not quite because there’s no fries? Wait, do you guys got in-n-out in Seattle?” Josh clarifies.

“No, but I had it here in January,” Nathan confirms.

“Okay, cool. Also I made a kind of kit kat one, the actual noodles are normal but the sauce and toppings are chocolate,” Josh confirms.

“Oh my god!” Nathan exclaims, and Shayne groans.

“His parents are gonna hate me Josh! They give me their kid for like, 24 hours, and all he does is play video games and eat junk food,” Shayne sighs.

“We can just not tell my Mum and Dad,” Nathan grins, “also I do that in Summer at home anyway just it’s more fun here with other people.”

“I know, buddy, I’m just kidding. I am definitely sending your Dad a photo of this chocolate mac and cheese though,” Shayne shakes his head, watching as Josh shifts over to the oven to start taking the things out.

“I’ll take it over to the other kitchen, go on, I’ll meet you out there in a sec – and see if anyone else wants stuff, I’ve probably got enough for like… Six people? Seven?”

Nathan and Shayne take the suggestion into their own office. Sarah declines – too much dairy – but Damien and Courtney accept the offer, alongside Brennan (one of their camera guys), and their editor Kevin.

“You think you’d be eating this kind of thing at our office, Nath?” Courtney asks him, when they divide up the two mac and cheeses between everyone’s plates.

“No but it’s awesome!” Nathan replies, grinning, “your office is fun! At least, the parts I’m doing are fun.”

“Our office is pretty fun most of the time,” Shayne nods, “you wanna be in the photo I send to your Dad?”

“I thought we weren’t going to tell him?” Nathan grins, but Shayne just shakes his head and holds his phone up. Nathan smiles for the photo, though, fork stuck emphatically into his serving of animal style in-n-out mac n cheese.

“I promise it wasn’t my idea, but Josh from Mythical decided to make lunch for the office… which of course included normal mac n cheese but also kit kat mac n cheese. I feel like I need to apologise for feeding that to your kid (have had it before tho, it’s weirdly good)… sorry?” Shayne types out the text. He gets three laughing emojis in response almost immediately, but he waits, seeing Chris is still typing.

“That looks interesting, actually, I have watched Mythical Kitchen a bit. You’re going to struggle to convince Nathan to come back to us though! How’s filming going?”

“Going great! Three videos down, just one left after lunch, Mario Party series finale. Nathan’s doing super well, getting more confident with the intros/outros/Sarah directing/etc too,” Shayne types out, and Chris gives some positive reply but he leaves it there, turning his attention back to see Courtney and Kevin engaging in an intense conversation with Nathan about which Marvel character is actually the most powerful.

Courtney ends up hanging out in the studio just off camera with them when they film the final video, and she doesn’t necessarily hide her presence, occasionally letting her laughs get loud enough that the boom mic they’ve got as well as the mics on the three players might pick it up. The three boys work well together, though, and somehow they once again manage to finish the competitions – between all their play-fighting and joking and teasing, which has increased with each episode they’ve filmed – at a complete draw.

“Well guys, this is the finale for the Damien and Shayne and Nathan show at least for now – and we’re still tied!” Damien finishes it, Nathan giving an overstated sigh in response.

“All these episodes and we still couldn’t work out a winner… You guys could’ve just let me win since I’m the kid and all,” Nathan offers, smile turning a little conspiratorial, and Shayne openly laughs.

“We were going to the first time we filmed buddy but you were too good, so we had to play normally – you have fun filming this stuff with us though, yeah?”

“Definitely!” Nathan enthuses, “I like playing games at home but it’s extra cool to do it with you guys and talk and stuff.”

“Yeah, guys, we’ve filmed this little series all in one week while Nath is in town so we don’t know the comments but – promise he’s here by choice, always his idea,” Damien adds, not entirely sure whether it will make the final cut but wanting to say it anyway, in case it becomes necessary.

“And my Mum and Dad say it’s cool,” Nathan adds, with a firm nod.

They transition into being a little more jokey again for the end, Shayne and Damien fake-fighting for the title of Nathan’s best friend until Sarah calls cut. It takes the three of them a while to settle down after the filming, Courtney raising an eyebrow as their antics continue while they all walk down the hallway back to the office and towards the exist.

“I gotta say goodbye to Josh too since he made us lunch,” Nathan reminds them, when they start packing up to leave, so they make a quick trip back over to the new kitchen set to find Josh still fiddling with the concept of Oreo Cheetos.

“Oh hey guys! How’s it going?” Josh asks, “I’ll have to credit you in this episode Nathan, I think Oreo Cheetos are going to go well.”

“Of course they will, its Oreos!” Nathan enthuses, “but we’re about to leave so I wanted to come say goodbye and thanks for lunch… the mac and cheese was really good!”

“Oh, thanks Nathan! I’m glad you liked it, it was nice to meet you today!”

They say a generic goodbye to everyone else in the office once they return, but they wait for Damien to wander outside with them – he’s going home now, too, anyway. Nathan requests a goodbye hug from him, and Damien leans down to give him just that, promising him they’ll catch up again next time Nathan is in California – whenever that happens to be.

“You ready to head back out to Grandma and Grandpa’s house?” Courtney asks him, and Nathan nods, climbing into the back of Shayne’s car and settling into quieter, although still continuous, conversation as they make the drive out to Thousand Oaks.

His mood takes a turn back towards where it was when they were filming as soon as they arrive home – Shayne and Courtney are staying for the afternoon and for dinner, so they head inside with him. He immediately draws the attention of everyone in the house, happily chattering about the games they’d played, Josh’s weird food creations, and how cool Shayne and Courtney’s apartment is. Rosie, for her part, is a little jealous: she wants to see Courtney’s keyboard, too, and she wants to play games with them – Courtney indulges her by lying down beside her on the floor playing on the iPad together for a while, and she promises that Rosie can visit their house next week after having a silent conversation with Shayne and Julie to confirm they could probably make that work.

“You know, we haven’t been to your place either,” Dianne comments, but Shayne shrugs.

“I mean, if we could we’d have you all over for a meal or something, but it is a one-bedroom apartment. It’s larger than my old place was but- not exactly ideal for hosting anything,” Shayne shrugs.

It ends that conversation right there, the other four adults nodding in understanding before they turn their attention to other things. Shayne volunteers himself to help cook dinner with his mother and Julie, waving Courtney off to stay with the kids and Chris playing in the living room.

“You know…” Dianne starts, the noise of chicken searing in the pan in front of him keeping their conversation well-insulated within the kitchen despite the fact she was behind him chopping veggies on the opposite bench with Julie, “no pressure, I don’t know where you guys are at with this kind of stuff – but if you were thinking of maybe buying a place or something, we can help you out a little.”

“You know I don’t like taking things from you,” Shayne reminds her.

“They helped us buy our place way back when,” Julie steps into the conversation, although her tone is light.

“We did, and we helped Brian with the move to New York – you’re the only one we haven’t helped out with something,” Dianne adds, and he sighs.

“Yeah, I guess. We genuinely haven’t talked about it, honestly, where we are works pretty well for us with proximity to the office and whatever and if we’re just talking about Court and I it’s all we need, but…” he trails off.

“Not to be nosy about it, you can stay vague, but what’s LA like price wise?” Julie asks, shifting over to beside Shayne to grab another pan out of the cupboard off to his side.

“I mean, it’s not cheap, but we could comfortably afford something bigger. Renting, and borderline buying,” he admits, “and I mean, we don’t intend to add kids or anything but – a pet, maybe? And space to have people over more would be nice… We’ll see.”

He leaves the conversation there, and the two women let him, knowing the seed is now planted firmly in his mind.


	72. Chapter 66: Fluey

“So my mother made a comment when I was helping them with dinner last night…” Shayne starts, lying in bed beside Courtney early Saturday morning. He had been staring at the ceiling, although he twists his head to glance towards her when he doesn’t continue.

“Oh?” Courtney prompts, eyebrow raising, “about?”

“Effectively offered me money again if we were thinking of buying a house or something. And I mean, I told her we haven’t even really thought about it, because like… I haven’t, honestly. But it did make me think,” he admits, and Courtney nods slowly against the pillow.

“I also hadn’t thought about it, because here is fine for just our own needs and whatever but… I mean, we haven’t even done the joint bank account thing so I can’t even speak for your financial situation but… I could certainly afford more,” she admits, “I don’t exactly have a whole house deposit saved, though.”

“Is it weird that we haven’t done the bank account thing? I’ve honestly just kinda forgotten about it,” Shayne admits, and she laughs.

“Look, we are engaged, it’s probably weird. Probably helped you hide that ring purchase though, huh?” she teases.

“Oh, for real, it was actually the first time it crossed my mind- I was kinda glad we hadn’t thought of it yet,” he laughs lightly, “but I mean, I’d be cool to just combine everything, if you wanted to. Because like… yeah, I honestly was totally fine with where we were here until yesterday, but it would be cool if we could have enough space to have people over, and maybe buying seems like something we should… look into. I also don’t exactly have a whole house deposit saved, but I’ve got a bit.”

“You do earn more than me, fucking wage gap,” she teases, “or, y’know, the fact that you have multiple jobs and I have one. I mean- I just assume we probably get the same from Smosh, I’ve not compared contracts with anyone…”

“Damien and I get the same, it’d be pretty suss if you didn’t since we’re all hired under the same role,” he nods, “but yeah, Goldbergs I get less than I do at Smosh but… a bit, still. Enough that I could probably manage a house deposit with only a little bit of help from my parents, so if you were… into that idea?”

“I don’t mean to be cagey, I’m getting jokey because I actually quite like the idea of buying a house with you,” Courtney smiles softly, “so, yeah, let’s join everything together and see where we are and what we can comfortably achieve? I want the space to have people over and things, too. It’d be cool if we could stay in this general area though, it is convenient.”

They combine their accounts later that week – it takes all of a single trip to the bank, given they were already with the same bank anyway – and find that, yeah, they can definitely start looking for a house. They compare their contracts, too, pleased to find that they are almost word-for-word identical. They don’t rush into house-hunting quite as quickly, though, instead content to look ever-so-casually, not in a rush, prepared to wait until they find the right thing.

————————————————

“I feel like fucking death,” Courtney grumbles, the Saturday morning exactly a week later. Their week had been relatively quiet – a couple more catch ups with the family before Chris, Julie and the kids returned to Seattle, only one-and-a-half days of work since everyone was just cruising before their office returned to its almost full capacity the following week, and a handful of errands like the bank thing. She really doesn’t have a reason to feel as shitty as she does.

“In what way?” Shayne asks, hand gripping softly against her shoulder.

“Fluey. I’m fucking exhausted even though I slept all night, I feel hot and kinda sore and just… ugh,” she mumbles, flopping lazily over to bury her face in her pillow.

“You are a little warm, you might have caught something,” he muses sympathetically, hand reaching out to press against her cheek where it is barely visible, her forehead too pressed against the pillow. “What do you wanna do? If you’re overheating, staying in bed might not be the best bet.”

“I don’t wanna move though,” she sighs, shifting slightly to let her hand reach up and pat around until it finds his to lace their fingers together.

“Aw, baby, I’m sorry you feel like that,” he replies, squeezing her hand gently, “how about you stay in bed, just without the duvet, though?”

“Yeah, okay,” she mumbles, sighing and twisting to face the ceiling again. She tries to kick off the duvet, but her muscles feel too lethargic. He slides out of bed and helps her pull the duvet back, folding it over itself at the foot of their bed to keep it out of the way as he reluctantly steps out of their bedroom.

She dozes in and out of sleep for most of the day, refusing both medicine and food when he offers, although he manages to convince her to drink water, at least.

“Can you please let me actually take your temp, Court? It’ll at least let us know how bad it is, you’ve clearly got a fever,” he mumbles, sitting beside her on the bed late in the evening.

“Fine,” she sighs, “and if I still feel like shit tomorrow, I’ll try taking something.”

She does still feel like shit the following day, and true to her word, she takes an ibuprofen not long after she wakes up, although she only very briefly moves into the kitchen to force down a piece of plain toast for breakfast before returning to their bed.

“We don’t have any more meds anyway,” she mumbles, when he checks on her a little while later after returning from the gym. He’d offered to stay home with her, but she’d been absolutely insistent he go, so he did.

“That’s okay, I’ll get some more, I was going to go out and get some stuff anyway – is there anything else you want, love?”

“I dunno. Sleep,” she mumbles, and he laughs lightly.

“I’ll see what I can do. I’ll head out soon, but you’ve got your phone yeah? Call me if you need me,” he tells her softly, and she merely nods at him before he steps back out of the room.

He makes a point of washing his own hands before he leaves and taking a couple of immune-boosting things –he does exist in quite close proximity to her and he’d rather they both weren’t off. Plus, he doesn’t want to spread anything to anyone else.

He heads for the mall closest to them, intent on getting more than ibuprofen although not entirely sure what else he’s going for. He wanders the supermarket for a while before remembering her favourite superfruit juices she never actually buys – he figures getting something a little more nutrient-dense than water might help her, too. They already have all the food she might want to consume, so that’s all he manages in the consumable category, but his aimless wandering through the mall finds him firmly inside a Lush store, glancing over the available bath bombs, not entirely sure what each is meant to do.

“Hey there, looking for something in particular?” a sales assistant clearly identifies his cluelessness, and he tilts his head as if to brush her off before deciding to actually seek her help.

“I mean- my fiancé is a bit sick, I’m kind of trying to invent a care package type thing, not sure if you guys have a bath bomb designed for dealing with crappy sick feelings?” he muses, and the sales assistant nods.

“Not exactly that, but I think we could get something that works for that…” she continues, pointing out a couple of options. He ends up picking two – a lavender-based milky option, for the sleepy soothing aspect, and a minty, citrusy one that leans more towards brightening and muscle-relaxing. He makes the drugstore his last stop on his way back to the car, grabbing the ibuprofen, and on impulse, some of the muscle-relaxant cream he uses on himself sometimes when he’s a little too sore from the gym, and a stupid mini plush bear holding a heart from one of the stands near the registers.

She’s sound asleep when he gets home, so he stays quiet, puttering around the house to do a handful of chores and leaving his gifts for her arranged neatly on their living room coffee table.

“Hey,” she murmurs, breaking his concentration from where he was busy trying to quietly put away some dishes he’d washed the previous night and left out to dry because… laziness.

“Oh, hey baby, sorry, did I wake you?” he asks, softly, and she slowly shakes her head, leaning back against the wall at the edge of their kitchen.

“Nah, just woke up. You get more medicine yet?” she requests.

“Yeah, I did,” he responds, twisting around to wander back out into the living room and grab it, adding casually, “also got you a few other things in case you want them. Some of those superfood juices you like, a couple bath bombs if you want to do something relaxing other than lying in bed.”

“You’re the best,” she responds, smiling softly, “a juice sounds good, actually. That first ibuprofen definitely helped, I’ll definitely take another now I can- but I’m not really up to food yet, juice might be nice though. More than just water.”

“That’s what I figured,” he nods, popping the ibuprofen out of the blister packet for her as he refills her glass of water from the tap. She takes them quickly after he hands them over, and he reaches into the fridge as she does to grab one of the juices.

“Thank you, baby. Sorry I’m being whiny this weekend, I haven’t felt this rough for a while,” she admits, but he quickly waves off her apology.

“No, no, no apologies, you clearly feel like shit, you are more than entitled to just want to complain and rest,” he reassures her, “and I’m happy to help out because I love you and I want to help you feel better, mmkay?”

“Love you too,” Courtney answers, “any chance you got a lavender-y sleepytime bath bomb? That sounds kinda nice for later this evening.”

“I did, actually,” he nods, wandering over towards the living room. She follows him, albeit slowly, and she lets out a light laugh at his setup on the table.

“You’re adorable.”

“Gotta help my girl feel better any way I can, right?” he defends himself, letting his gaze on her tend as affectionate and cheesy as he feels like being.

She reaches for his hand in response, pressing a gentle kiss to his knuckles.

“Thank you, Shayne. I don’t want to get my sick germs on your face but- you’re the sweetest and I love you for it, so much.”

She tells him it was a combination of all his help – the medicine, the juice, a relaxing bath where he sits beside the bath in comfortable silence with her, his gentle massaging of her aching back muscles when she falls back into bed afterwards – but she does feel better by the late evening. She isn’t up to work the next morning – she’s still way too tired – but she actually gets out of bed and eats breakfast, waving Shayne goodbye when he steps out to head to the office for the first day back after their not-break-but-kind-of-break.

She considers going Tuesday, but between Shayne and Ian they convince her to stay home again – she’s mostly fine, she’s just feeling drained of energy and her appetite is still hit and miss. She convinces them she’s fine by Wednesday, though, and she finally settles back into their usual work routine, filming and meetings all picking up now the whole team has returned.

“You still feel sick, don’t you?” Shayne asks her, curled up on their sofa with her on Friday evening.

“Not sick, just… tired and a little off,” she admits, with a sigh, “you about to tell me to see a doctor?”

“I mean, it’s your choice, but… it’s been a week, Court, maybe you should?” he suggests, cautiously, aware that she is not the most enthusiastic about doctors unless she really feels it is necessary.

“Yeah, I know. I’ll try and book an appointment for early next week sometime, I know I should,” she admits, “I don’t mean to be an ass, I know you’re just looking out for me.”

“You aren’t being an ass,” he shakes his head, “and I don’t mean to be pushy, I just want you to feel better, you know?”


	73. Chapter 67: Appointment

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote this next couple of chapters of this fic on the back of reading (yet again) another fic that was a badly disguised, explicitly sexist commentary on a particular topic that, in some parts of the world, is controversial. My version is the pushback that actually, women have bodily agency and it isn’t a big deal.
> 
> If you have a problem with the content in question on a political basis, consider that a Shourtney fanfiction is not the time or place to comment your distaste.
> 
> Now on to the actual fic!

“You sure you don’t want me to come to the appointment with you?” Shayne confirms, sitting across from Courtney the following Tuesday morning before they both head to work, “we aren’t filming anything today, I could grab an hour off as easily as you.”

“I don’t need you to do everything with me,” Courtney replies, although there isn’t as much force behind her statement as the words might imply.

“I know, but I can tell you’re stressing about this,” Shayne answers, and Courtney nods. She pauses for a moment looking down at her breakfast she doesn’t really want to eat, before letting out a long sigh and looking up at him.

“It hadn’t even crossed my mind that this could be anything other than my flu thing from last week just hanging around but- I had a stress dream last night that I’m pregnant. And now I’m paranoid I am,” she admits, looking down again and away from his eyes.

“Is that a reasonable possibility? You haven’t had a period for a while, right?” He confirms, and she nods.

“Like 3 months, but that’s not late for me. And my Implanon has 6 months left on it still- But I just feel so... weird,” she sighs, Shayne nodding in acceptance.

“Whatever it is, it’s going to be fine, and I’m right here if you need me. Always. And I will come to the appointment if you’d like, but I won’t if you don’t want me to.”

He asks one last time if she’d like company, a hushed whisper in her ear ten minutes before they break for lunch and she leaves to head to her usual doctor. She shakes her head, though, giving the excuse that the others would assume a pregnancy sort of thing was up if they both went to a doctors’ appointment together. He accepts that - she’s probably right, after all - and he attempts to settle into his lunch break with the others after she leaves, not quite able to engage fully in the conversation between his co-workers.

————————————————

“Courtney,” her doctor calls her in with a smile, and she gives a forced smile back as she follows her usual GP, Dr Daley, into her room. “What can I help you with today?”

“So... I don’t really know what’s going on, I had a flu of some kind the other week I guess, I had a fever and was sore and whatever for just a few days, but I still feel weird like I haven’t fully shaken it or something? I’m really tired all the time, kinda shaky and unstable sometimes, and I’m finding eating weirdly uncomfortable... the fever is totally gone though and I’m definitely not as bad as I was,” Courtney explains, shrugging, “and I know it doesn’t sound like much but my fiancé encouraged me to get a check-up because I just feel so... off. And it’s been almost 10 days now.”

“Sure, sure, definitely worth a look. A flu can hang around like that sometimes, although ten days is getting a bit long…” Dr Daley explains, before running through the usual generic check-ups. Her throat and ears look fine, her temperature is normal, her blood pressure is up ever so slightly but Courtney admits that’s probably anxiety.

“When was your last menstrual cycle?” Dr Daley ask, next, and Courtney feels a lump lodge in her throat at the line of questioning.

“Um, it’s about 3 months since my last period, but that’s within my normal cycle length on the implanon,” she explains, shrugging.

“When is your implanon due for replacement, again? I do have it in these notes somewhere-“

“Not for about six months,” Courtney nods, falling into silence for a moment as Dr Daley scrolls back in her file to confirm, before adding, “I did have a stress dream last night that I was pregnant. Which I know means nothing medically but...”

“I’m guessing you are sexually active, then?” The doctor confirms, Courtney merely nodding, “and what protection do you use?”

“Just the implanon.”

“Have you taken a pregnancy test?” She asks.

“No, it didn’t really occur to me until this morning that it was even a possibility...” she trails off, looking down to pick at a thread on her jeans, hating how vulnerable and childish her voice turns.

“That’s fine, I think it is worth having a look to double check - I could actually do the blood test now, it gives a much more reliable result than urine tests and I can have the result in ten minutes. It could absolutely be not that though, and then I’d just recommend keeping a close eye on your diet for another week or so and seeing if you see any change. But, would you like to do the test?”

“Um, yeah, I guess may as well rule it out,” Courtney nods, suddenly wishing she hadn’t turned down Shayne’s oddly persistent requests to accompany her.

She stands up and follows Dr Daley through to the nurses’ room as requested, sitting down on the edge of the bed and glancing off away from the needle as the blood is taken. She’s much better than she was with needles as a kid, she can manage for the most part, at least, and this one seems to be over particularly quickly. She still doesn’t like watching it happen.

“Great, thanks Courtney. I’ll give this to the nurse to run the test down the hall, if you could just wait in the waiting room?” Dr Daley confirms, “and no problem if you want to call in someone to support you depending how you feel about any potential results, mmkay?”

“Okay,” Courtney confirms, forcing a smile as she walks back out to sit as far from anyone else as she can in the waiting room.

She toys with the idea of calling Shayne, and she types out a text requesting he comes over but- What if she’s just wasting his time if it’s negative? And what if he freaks out if it isn’t? What if their co-workers get nosy about why he left in the middle of the day? Work is more than a ten minute drive away, anyway, and he had a lot to do today, and she should be able to manage something like this herself because what if that’s the final straw for him to leave her and-

She cuts her own mind off in confusion at that particular thought. Final straw? There were no other damn straws, he wasn’t going to leave her. Even her own anxious tendencies weren’t the slightest bit worried about their commitment: their relationship was the most stable, comforting part of her life – they were engaged, for Christ’s sake, and okay they hadn’t started actually planning a wedding yet, but… Maybe she kind of wants to start planning, no matter what happens. She thanks her stupid, irrational deep dive into the absurd depths of her anxiety for bringing that thought out of the much more rational part of her psyche.

Both the rational and anxious parts of her rambling mind take all of her focus until she hears Dr Daley calling her again with a kind smile she can’t quite interpret. So, she reluctantly closes out of her texts without sending the message to Shayne – it’s too late now, anyway.

“Okay, so, the result has come back positive, and although there is a very minuscule chance of error, it is highly likely you’re pregnant,” Dr Daley confirms once they are seated back in her room, Courtney’s heart dropping into a pit in her stomach. Fuck. Fuck. This wasn’t meant to happen. Fuck.

“Oh,” is all she can manage to vocalise.

“The next step would be an ultrasound to determine how far along you are - I would hazard to guess given there is no visual indication whatsoever and no really clear symptoms that it isn’t very far, but we just need to confirm, as it impacts what options are available to you,” Dr Daley explains, Courtney nodding blindly and sitting in silence as her mind whirs.

“I don’t want to be pregnant,” she blurts out, after a moment, and Dr Daley nods in response.

“I figured as much, you definitely have termination options open at this stage if you choose to go that way. I can talk you through the options now, if you’d like? Depending on what you would like to do, we can arrange for that at the same time as the ultrasound.”

“I’ll have to talk to Shayne - uh, my hu- uh, fiancé - I guess but... yeah. Options, please?”

————————————————

It’s another 20 minutes of talking about options, and then an awkward conversation about contraception, and it hurts her head. Not because she’s uncertain - honestly, she’s pretty clear about her preferred option - but she’s terrified of telling him, terrified he won’t speak up about his own preference and he’ll just tell her to do whatever she wants which she absolutely gets is him trying to be respectful but she feels like this should be a joint decision, and she’s angry she didn’t let him come with her in the first place, and-

Courtney means to drive back to work, she’d only said she was taking a little time off for the appointment, but before she realises where she’s driven, she’s parking at their apartment. She sighs, leaning back against the headrest.

“Fuck it,” she mumbles, pulling out her phone and typing out a text to Ian.

“Dr recommended more rest, accidentally autopilot drove myself home so I might take the rest of today off if that’s alright?” she hits send before stepping out of the car, grabbing her things – or those that she hadn’t left at the office, anyway – and heading inside.

She opens up her texts to Shayne once she collapses on the couch, deleting her message she didn’t send earlier and hovering her thumb over the keyboard.

“Sure Court Bort, get well soon!” Ian replies, before she types anything else, and she sighs. She’s gotta tell Shayne something before Ian does, but she sure as shit isn’t telling him THAT over text and she doesn’t want to just ask him to come home because that’s clingy and needy and-

“Hey,” she sends, watching as the ‘delivered’ switches to ‘read’ almost immediately.

“I’m at home”

“I’m fine”

“Just come home whenever you feel like it x”

She’s torn between hoping he reads between the lines and hears her silent plea for him to come home early, and hoping he just has a normal day at work and doesn’t worry himself about her. She isn’t surprised when he seems to go with the former.

“Just packing up and I’ll be there soon. Love you xx” he texts back, and it pulls a tiny bit of her heart back into place out of its pit of dread.

Still, she continues to ruminate on the couch for the thirty minutes before he arrives home, flicking through the information pamphlets Dr Daley had given her on termination options as if they weren’t relatively simple and she hadn’t already got the gist of it all from their actual conversation. She shoves the pamphlets back into her small bag when she hears his key turn in the door. She sits back on the couch, watching on in silence as he glances at her with worried eyes, before dumping his work things - and hers, she notices - on the dining table and moving to sit close beside her on the couch. His hands seek out hers immediately, thumbs rubbing gentle patterns across the back of her hands as she looks down at them. God, she can’t lose this. He has to be okay with it. Right?

“What’s up, love?” he asks her gently, a minute of silence later, and she sighs, squeezing her eyes shut.


	74. Chapter 68: Stress Dream

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As stated before the last chapter – some people may find some of this controversial, but this isn’t the place for that kind of thing. It is the place for letting women, even fictional character-women, have complete agency over themselves, though!
> 
> On to the fic (also, this gets more fluffy than the A/N might suggest)

“I… yeah,” she starts, voice strained and choppy, “Accurate stress dream, I’m pregnant, got blood test confirmation.”

She opens her eyes, but she can’t make herself look up to meet his, instead examining the stitching at the collar of his shirt. One of his hands lets go of hers, but he quickly moves it to cup her chin and gently tilt her head up to look at him. His expression is full of care, and it settles her nerves ever so slightly.

“Okay, I’m… not surprised, I had a weird hunch about it,” he admits, “it’s why I wanted to come with you today, and I wish you’d let me – but it’s okay, I’m here now, and I’m not going anywhere.” His voice is reassuring as he gently shifts to wrap his arms around her, and she settles into his embrace.

“I know. I’m sorry I didn’t ask you to come, I wish I had,” she admits, softly.

“It’s okay,” he repeats, thumb rubbing soft patterns against the back of her shoulder, “what happens now? Is there a… more medical stuff, and do we need to talk about what you want to do? Do you know? It’s okay if you don’t.”

His questions are disorganised, and she can hear a tinge of worry leaking into his own voice, although she kind of knows it’s less worry about the actual pregnancy thing and more so about her.

“I… so like, on Friday, I have to have an ultrasound to confirm how far along it is, doctor was pretty sure it is very early given I have limited symptoms and we’re kind of lucky we caught it so early,” she explains, “and from there we have to decide what we do, I guess. And I kind of- I don’t want this to happen, and I know it’s up to both of us, I want it to be both of us deciding, but I kind of know what I want to do, because if it’s as early as the doctor thinks I can just take a pill for a chemical abortion and then it’s just like it never happened…”

“I appreciate you saying it’s up to me too, and I guess to an extent yeah, family planning type stuff is for both of us but - it’s your body, Court. I do not in any way want to pressure you to decide something in particular,” he tells her softly, and she sighs.

“What do you think, though?” she pushes again, although she truly does appreciate his careful consideration of her view.

“I mean, yeah, I agree with you. I don’t think it’s the right time for us and I think since you caught it early, if you have the option to make it an easy fix then that seems like a good option to take,” he tells her carefully, and she nods, letting herself press closer against him and finally meet his eyes.

“Okay. Thank you. That’s what we’ll do, then, and it’s all fine. I’m sorry I didn’t let you come today, can you on Friday?” She requests, and he nods, leaning down for a moment to press a soft kiss to her cheek.

“Of course, Court. And I mean, I… don’t want to second guess how you feel about the whole abortion thing, I don’t exactly have any experience with what it’s like so like- I dunno. I just, I’m always here if you need me, but it’s cool if it isn’t a big deal to you, if that makes sense?” he explains, turning awkward again, and she nods in understanding.

“I mean, I know I’ve heard people being like… upset about it, even if they wanna do it. But I dunno, I feel fine about it, it’s not really a big deal. It’s not like there’s our kid inside me yet, it’s just a clump of cells that happens to include some of your DNA. And I mean, with the amount I find your hair all over this apartment and how much saliva swapping we do, I’m probably covered in your DNA…” she trails off, the abrupt topic change causing him to let out a surprised laugh.

“We only see more of my hair because it’s darker than yours, dammit. But look, yeah, I’m kind of on the same page so, yeah. If you want to mostly just ignore it like another medical thing then that’s cool, because I get the vibe you do.”

“Yeah. And I mean, the pill I gotta take will make me a mess for a few days emotionally because it is quite the hormonal kick, but that’s just… you know,” she shakes her head, and he nods in understanding before she continues, “also, can we just like… not tell anyone this happened? No parents or best friends. Not even Damien. I just don’t want to have to deal with people trying to awkwardly make it a bigger deal.”

“Sure, yeah, I get that. No one needs to know,” he agrees, shifting to loosen his hold around her ever-so-slightly as their conversation relaxes, although his hand continues rubbing soft patterns across her shoulder. “Now might not be the time to talk about it, but… do we need to change our approach to protection?”

His second question is a little more cautious, although it completely lacks the awkwardness of their first discussion about the same topic so many months ago, so she gives a casual shrug.

“I did talk to my doctor about it, I’ll need to get this implanon taken out and get a new one in and we’ll have to use condoms for a bit in the meantime but like, generally… It’s not like we did anything wrong. It’s possible the implanon just isn’t effective anymore, there is a range of times they can work for and I was pushing it to the top of that range on her advice. And I mean, nothing is perfect, it still could’ve happened with condoms too, so… it’s really just another decision we gotta make,” she explains, Shayne nodding along in understanding.

“I guess that makes sense. And bad luck once doesn’t mean it’s any more likely to happen again, right?”

“Right. And I mean… look, if you’d prefer to use condoms too, then that’s totally fine and we will. But I kind of don’t want to,” Courtney admits, with half a laugh, and Shayne grins in response despite his cheeks noticeably flushing.

“Yeah, I know you don’t want to- and I mean, I’m not complaining if we don’t either, but always happy with whatever protection you’re comfortable with, even if it’s more,” he reassures her.

“You’re such a sweetheart, but same to you, love. Also… can I drop another bomb on you that only mildly came out of my mind irrationally spiralling about us when I was waiting for the result?” she switches their topic again, eyes sparkling as she meets his.

“Sure,” he grins as if he knows what she’s going to say, “but can I drop one first and steal your spotlight?”

“Asshole. Go for it,” she laughs lightly.

“Let’s start planning a wedding. Let’s actually get married. I want you to be my wife before the end of next year,” he suggests, excitement seeping into the edges of his tone as she presses closer to him.

“Yes, you’re right, that’s what I was going to say too,” she smiles widely.

“Can I ask why your spiralling got you to there?” he requests, and she tilts her head back and forth a few times as she formulates her response.

“I spiralled hard for a minute, and I had this thought pop up that pregnancy might be the final straw for you to leave me – and before you interrupt, yes, I know that is an insane thought. I snapped out of that spiral the second I thought that because I really even in the depths of my anxiety don’t think that in the slightest. I’m so comfortable in everything with you, I’m so sure of both of our commitment and our relationship is the most secure part of my life even at the moment when there isn’t a whole heap that isn’t secure. So, like, wanting to actually marry you wasn’t because of some irrational fear about you leaving- it was because I know that isn’t going to happen,” she explains, before quickly adding, “also, almost called you my husband at one point in the appointment and I mean – yeah, wouldn’t mind if that was true.”

“I know anxious thoughts can get wild like that, but as long as you know that it’s irrational – I’m absolutely committed to you and to us, so yeah, that’s a wonderful reason to get married for real. Have you had any thoughts about when?” he asks her, tone turning gentler, and she nods.

“Either Spring or Fall next year, I think? I mean, it’s LA, they’re effectively the same weather-wise – but Summer is kind of hectic, so not that. I mean, I guess it depends how long we need to plan, right?”

“I mean, even if we aimed for May next year – that’s like, what, nine or ten months away?” Shayne muses, Courtney silently nodding in agreement, “How big are we thinking? I know like, I want all our family there, and friends – work and otherwise…”

“I don’t want it to be massive, but I think just by virtue of our inner circles being quite large, it’s not going to be tiny. I don’t think we could draw a line where we stop invites with most of our co-workers… you wanna spend the rest of today making a list?” she suggests.

They do just that, taking their accidental afternoon and evening at home to start physically writing down lists of potential guests, roughly grouped by their relationship to them – family takes up one page, Smosh-related friends and coworkers another, friends from other places, people who don’t quite fit in to any of the other categories. When you add in partners and kids – they can’t exactly say no kids to anyone else when they _absolutely_ want all their nieces and nephews involved – the list quickly balloons past 150, and it causes Courtney to shudder.

“Okay, this is- that sounds like a lot of people. That sounds like a lot of planning work…” she trails off, “I don’t think it can be smaller, though. I don’t want to cut anyone out.”

“It _sounds_ big, but I don’t think it is that much really, and I mean, you gotta assume there’s going to be a few people that can’t make it no matter when it is and how far in advance we end up sending invites, so there’s that too. But I think as long as it doesn’t get much bigger than this it’s manageable, right?”

“Yeah, I think it is, and we got time to refine too. You know, while we’re on the people part of it – who’s going to be actually involved in the wedding-y part of it?” Courtney asks, Shayne nodding slightly as he pauses to think for a moment.

“Damien is absolutely my best man, no question about it. Couple other people I’d probably include as groomsmen too – Chris, Cole… I might be guided on numbers by how many people you want to include, though?” he suggests.

“I think it might take me a little more thought to work out who, but I don’t exactly want a heap of bridesmaids or anything. Also, can the nieces be flower girls? And by nieces I mean Rosie, but I guess I should include the two girls on my side of the family too…” she trails off, Shayne laughing.

“We definitely gotta get the kids involved for the cute factor.”

————————————————

They both have the afternoon off work on Friday anyway, so they don’t need to make any excuse why they’re going to the doctors together again. The ultrasound confirms what Dr Daley had expected – yeah, she’s pregnant, but only very early on – and she gets the prescription to end that whole drama before it becomes any more significant.

The pill and her resulting rush of hormonal change fucks with her emotions and her body over the weekend just as she’d been warned, but she cries on Shayne’s shoulder when she has a breakdown over how many notes she’d got on a script for work – even though it was an extremely rough draft and most of the notes were positive, not criticism – and she lets him dote over her as much as he wants to. The sudden, erratic conversations about wedding planning help too, in a way – she can’t stop thinking about how goddamn perfect he is, even though he seems to care more about wedding flowers than she does and they have very split opinions on cake.


	75. Chapter 69: CFM

“Are you sure you’re okay to film this today?” Shayne asks Courtney softly, as they drive to work together the following Tuesday morning, aware she was still feeling pretty emotionally vulnerable after the weekend.

“I mean, what better time to shoot a video where it’s just us and you’re playing fucking CFM so I’m effectively just pushing the whole video myself, than within a week of us having a pregnancy scare, terminating said pregnancy and deciding to start planning a wedding?” Courtney shoots back sarcastically, before moderating her voice, “no, I’m being silly, it’s fine. I don’t think there’s a way that this video won’t be weird for us.”

“At least I get to escape into the character. You gotta play you,” he sympathises, and she shrugs.

“Just don’t jump all over the place while I’m trying to do detail and we’ll be good, mmkay?”

The video had been Sarah’s idea - her random makeup video with Damien almost a year earlier had gone alright, so more Courtney-doing-makeup content could be good, and CFM hadn’t made an appearance for a while. It was a perfect match.

“And I mean, you gotta be alright with touching Shayne’s face by now, right?” Sarah had added, at the time she’d pitched it. Courtney had responded by reaching over and lightly pressing against his cheek with her pointer finger instead of actually answering, because, yeah.

Sarah had selected a tight range of makeup options for her to use this time, and she was quietly glad. Her emotional messiness was enough that she didn’t want to risk letting her indecisiveness from the last makeup video come in again even stronger: a single eyeshadow palette would keep things easy. Or at least, easy enough.

“So, today I’m doing makeup on someone I despise,” she ends her chaotic and self-deprecating intro to the video, Shayne grumbling loudly in full CFM gruffness from off camera as she rolls her eyes.

“Courtney Freaking Miller!” he exclaims, as always, as he steps into frame, although he doesn’t say anything else, instead making faces at the camera before she throws uneasiness into her tone - intentionally - and requests he sit down. He spouts some insane bullshit as he does, of course, but at least he listens to her.

To be entirely fair, he is relatively calm as she starts dabbing at his face with the base and contouring products. He keeps almost alarmingly still as he continues his crazed stream of consciousness CFM ranting, and it allows her to settle into the actual act of doing his makeup. It goes surprisingly smoothly.

“I wonder why I haven’t ever done a full face on you before,” she muses, as she does the contour, kind of forgetting she’s working on CFM, not Shayne.

“I don’t usually wear makeup-“ he starts, voice strained in full CFM tone, “-because it seems like a lot of effort, and I already put so much effort into maintaining my human appearance-“

“You’re so stupid,” she mutters in response, reaching over to her pile of makeup again to locate the blush.

She tries to make something out of the cat pressed into the powder, but he merely sits silently and quivers his lip so she lightly presses the brush across the compact to pick up some powder and leans over to brush it onto his face.

CFM-Shayne barks loudly like a dog as her hand approaches him, and she lets out a clear, surprised yelp as she quickly leans back away from him, body turning away. Everyone on set laughs, as does she after a moment, but when she looks back over his way she can see his character slipping and an apology in his eyes. She tries to silently communicate that it’s fine, before leaning over again to actually apply the blush.

As much as his talk gets continually more insane and slightly more aggressive towards her, he stays cooperative: when she asks him to make a weird face so she can do the highlight on his upper lip, he does, although he adds crazy eyes to the mix. When she implores him to be as still as possible for the eyeliner application, he freezes every muscle except his mouth.

“Agh, I gotta put my face so close to you right now CFM, sorry,” she murmurs as she leans over to do his second eye, indeed hovering very close to his face.

“Nah it’s fine,” CFM answers, although the voice slips ever so slightly. It makes Courtney remember that usually when her face is this close to Shayne’s it’s in some vicinity of making out with him, so she moves away as quickly as she can.

“I appreciate how docile you’ve been for this,” she tells him, a few minutes later as she finishes up the highlight, before she moves onto his eyelashes for the last step. CFM makes some excuse about astral projecting elsewhere to beat people up, but she feels Shayne’s foot bump against hers under the table, clearly intentional.

His character slips the most when she’s curling his eyelashes, and she isn’t surprised: she’s leaning against his back, hand on one shoulder to stabilise herself as she holds against his cheek to keep the eyelash curler in place and continually asks if he’s okay. He remains relatively quiet as she does his mascara, and she throws out some comments about his very long lower lashes as if that wasn’t something she’d definitely noticed (and been low key jealous of) for quite a while.

“Now for the last part, the kissy kissy, the lips,” she throws another intro-of-sorts joke as she reaches for the lip products.

“I call my lips the gateway,” CFM responds, firmly back in character.

“What comes into the gateway?” Courtney yes-ands him, too busy uncapping the lip liner to think of something more creative herself.

“I thought of a joke but I can’t say it here,” he replies, still in CFM voice, although when she glances over at him she can see him shaking and his face contorting with silent laughter, way back in Shayne territory. Sarah and Brennan both laugh before she gets it, and when she does, she groans and steps off the stool and away from him.

“God dammit, Shayne,” she laughs, as does he.

“Sorry, sorry, but I mean, you-” he replies, fully back in his own voice, but she quickly shuts him up with a hand held out in front of her.

“Shut up, and for the love of god editors please cut all of this.”

He settles back into character and gives a much more PG response to her question, letting her continue painting his lips as needed. She’s kind of impressed with her own work when she steps back to look at his full face - and he doesn’t seem to have any complaints either, posing and pulling weird expressions for a close-up glam cam montage.

“Do you think I look hot?” he asks her, still as CFM, when they’re throwing some more improv at each other in case they decide to chuck any outro on the end with the usual end card.

“Who is I in that sentence, Courtney Freaking Miller? Because I think it’d be weird if I found a chaotic non-human clone of myself hot,” Courtney replies, and he grins.

“Courtney Freaking Miller is hotter than the sun I don’t need your approval,” he responds, still gruff, “but what about your fiancé Shayne?”

“The wig is a challenge,” she admits, with a laugh, before she pushes them into the end card so they can finish filming.

“For real though...” Shayne starts, after they call cut, dropping the CFM voice.

“I don’t know, dude, I’m not kidding when I say, as much as I love you, that wig is not a good look,” she responds with a laugh, and he nods, reaching up to pull said wig off as they turn their attention back to everyone else in the studio, pausing their conversation until they are free to step out.

“Thank you for being so easy to deal with,” Courtney tells him, when they do step out, and he nods.

“CFM can show through words without making shit too hard for you to move the actual video on. You did a great job, by the way,” he answers, and she laughs.

“It came out okay, I guess,” she shrugs, and her comment seems to make him decide something, grabbing her hand and gently redirecting her towards their favourite private bathroom.

“You want makeup on or off before I kiss you?” He asks, locking the door behind them, and she laughs.

“I think you could be hot with makeup on but the look I’ve done is so similar to what I do for myself that it’s kind of odd,” she answers, “so, no, I’m not over here lusting over makeupified Shayne any more than I am over normal Shayne. But not any less, either.”

It makes him reach for a makeup remover wipe from the packet sitting on the bathroom counter.

“I feel bad ruining your work so quickly,” he laughs, and she nods, pulling the makeup wipe out of his hand before he can actually use it and turning him back to face her before she leans in for a kiss. There’s an ever so slight difference in texture at first as his lip gloss sticks to her own, but it quickly dissipates as they kiss gently.

“I can tell the anxiety is hitting you a bit today, is there anything I can do to help?” he asks her softly when they pull back, arms still gently around each other.

“This,” she answers, simply, pushing forward again to bury her own face in the crook of his neck, although not enough to ruin her own makeup. He holds her tighter in response, hand running gentle patterns across her back.

“Love you. Are you getting anxious about something in particular, or just generally?”

“Generally. Nothing really, it’s just attaching to whatever happens,” she mumbles against his skin, and he nods.

“We need to go back out to the office, but hey, I’ll try and stick near you all day, and squeeze my hand if you need me, okay?”

“Okay. Thank you,” she murmurs, before reluctantly pulling back.

When they do return to the office, they attract a crowd of attention, although it’s fixed only on complimenting her makeup skills and how good he looks. They both brush the compliments off with careful smiles, before settling into the rest of their workday. Shayne has a meeting with Ian and Matt not long later, and he cringes openly when he has to wander into Ian’s office and leave Courtney’s side.

“Can we make this quick? The fiancé is getting hit bad with the anxiety stuff today, I’m trying to stick near her because I know that helps her,” Shayne admits carefully when he steps into Ian’s office, his boss simply nodding.

“Of course, dude. You know, she’s allowed to take time off for mental health too, if it’s too much for her to be here then I certainly don’t want to push her,” Ian reminds him, Shayne nodding.

“She felt guilty because she missed two days the other week already and we had that CFM makeup shoot this morning, obviously,” Shayne explains it away as he gestures to his own face, still in full makeup, “plus I’m at work, so.”

“Sounds like her. Couldn’t have a single complaint about her as an employee,” he shakes his head, “Matt is running late as always, but we can start, so this Games series you pitched...”

————————————————

She doesn’t squeeze his hand at all during the day, but in the late afternoon Monica has taken Sarah’s seat on the other side of Courtney. He’s only vaguely listening to them discuss a few sketch scripts where Courtney is a possibility to direct or co-direct. It seems to become mostly Monica’s voice after a while, though, and it’s not long later that he feels Courtney gently kick her foot against his leg, clearly intentional.

He freezes for a minute, suddenly completely unsure how to help, until he realises Monica is just overwhelming her with too much at once but she’s too scared to tell her to stop.

“Hey Monica!” Shayne cuts into their conversation enthusiastically, rolling his chair closer and placing a gentle hand on Courtney’s shoulder as casually as he can, “did you get the notes on that skate kids script done? I think Matt wants to film that later this week so I gotta do any final edits ASAP”

“Oh, yeah, absolutely- Courtney, you good if we leave it there for now and I go over this script with Shayne? You don’t really need to do anything urgently, just consider the options,” Monica turns back to Courtney, who simply nods and smiles before turning back to her computer screen.

“Thanks,” she murmurs so only Shayne can hear after Monica steps away, before he goes to follow her.

“No problem, baby,” he reassures her softly before reluctantly letting his hands fall off her and stepping away. The skater kids video request for notes hadn’t been a total lie, although he’d prefer if he didn’t have to walk over to Monica’s desk for a minute.


	76. Chapter 70: Wedding Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Without spoiling too much - I had to make a choice in this chapter to name a series of characters for something in particular. I made the intentional choice to mostly go with names that, so far, haven't been in this fic much - assumed non-work friends of our couple, as you will. I just didn't want it to be all Smosh people.

She makes a point of buying him flowers on the way home the next day. Her mood had taken a rapid 180, so she’d elected to stay late and finalise a handful of the scripts Monica was telling her about the previous day when she was getting completely overwhelmed.

“Was I putting too much on you yesterday? Kinda seemed like your guy swooped in to distract me on purpose there,” Monica asks her, although there’s no pressure in her tone.

“Yeah, look, wasn’t a good anxiety day and I was not at full capacity so I nudged him to step in- but all good, I’m good today,” she brushes Monica off before she can say any more, turning back to the scripts.

She loves the idea of directing and taking on more responsibility in parts of her role – she’s said as much to the relevant people at work, it’s why it’s starting to happen – and just as equally, she loves the way Shayne’s face lights up in surprise and he grins widely when she presents him with a bouquet of flowers when she arrives home a while after him.

“Fuck gender roles, and also I know you love flowers and I love you, so…” she trails off in explanation, meeting his happiness with her own grin as he carefully locates a vase she didn’t even know they had to put them in, and then pulls her into a tight hug.

————————————————

They end up meeting with a wedding planner the next weekend. They don’t want to employ someone to do it all for them, but they need a little bit of guidance, and she’s someone they knew through a friend of a friend or something along those lines, introduced to them at an event some time ago – they still haven’t actually told anyone in their personal lives they’ve suddenly jumped into this whole wedding planning thing in the slightest – and she’s helpful. She gives them a plan of how to plan, and it sets them on a clearer track.

The first step, of course, is confirming the wedding party, because they’re flexible on dates to make sure everyone they want to be in the bridal and grooms’ parties is able to be there. Courtney settles on Kari as her maid of honour after some deliberation, conveniently doing so the evening before they’re due to have lunch with her another week later.

“Hey guys! How’ve you been?” Kari greets them with exuberance when they meet her at a café in Silver Lake – her suggestion, unsurprisingly, given it was full of hipster crystal vibes and, y’know, in Silver Lake – for Saturday lunch, and they both respond positively before turning the question back on her. They dive into a conversation about her latest boytoy – there really wasn’t a more appropriate word for it, she’d finally ditched the redhead accountant boy not long after their engagement back in April and had now moved back into her regular cycling through guys she didn’t care about enough to keep around more than a few weeks - as they decide on and order food, before Shayne leans back in his seat, arms crossed in front of his chest.

“Sooooo, you know how we’ve been engaged since April…” he trails off, grinning, watching as Kari’s eyes light up with intrigue.

“Oooh, please tell me this is going where I think it is?” she grins, and Shayne laughs, looking to Courtney to keep talking.

“Yeah, we’ve kind of started wedding planning a little,” she admits.

“When are you thinking?” she asks.

“May next year, not firm on the date yet – we’ll float a few options to make sure that everyone we want to be actually involved in it is available,” Shayne confirms.

“Talking of which…” Courtney starts, “how d’you feel about being my maid of honour, Kari?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Kari answers immediately, “that’s so exciting – I’m so excited – thanks, Court.”

“Of course, Kari. I know we’re jokey as fuck but- love you lots, you’re definitely my fave family member and I trust you to make sure this whole thing goes smoothly, I think,” Courtney grins, Kari leaning over the side of the table to give her a brief hug.

“Oh, totally, it’s gotta be perfect – and I know I at least don’t gotta worry about your future-husband over here, right Shayne? You’re not going to cause any stresses?” she teases, Shayne laughing.

“Nah, I promise I’ll be good. I can’t say the same for Court, though – she’s the one who won’t even give the slightest opinion on anything to do with flowers,” he accuses, although it’s obvious he’s joking. Courtney rolls her eyes and reaches over to poke him faux-aggressively in the shoulder, before they fall back into excited conversation with Kari about everything to come in their wedding planning journey.

————————————————

Shayne pulls Damien aside first thing the following Monday. He would’ve liked to ask him outside the work environment, but now that Courtney has told Kari, he wants to take the earliest opportunity he can – so sue him, he’s goddamn excited – to get his part of the ‘asking people to be part of their actual wedding’ started. He leads Damien away from their main office space and slightly down the hallway for privacy, ending up in one of their empty studios.

“So, I’m guessing this won’t come as a surprise, but – Court and I have kind of started the wedding planning thing, and yeah, do you want to confirm your comment three days after I started dating her – wanna be my best man?” Shayne asks, not able to stop the excitement leaking into his voice.

“Definitely,” Damien answers, grinning, “when you planning this wedding for? Also, who’s her maid of honour – I know there’s a couple candidates there? And do you got other groomsmen you’ve asked yet, or do you know who you will ask?”

“Okay, slow it with the questions,” Shayne jokes, before shaking his head, “no, they’re all valid – so, May next year, but no exact date yet because we want it to work for everyone it needs to. Kari is her maid of honour and she’s already talked to her, but neither of us have talked to anyone else about it yet. We’re each thinking of maybe three groomsmen and bridesmaids, not too many – Chris, Cole and Tristan for me. Olivia, Hannah and Rachel for hers. But, yeah, keep it quiet for now? She hasn’t said anything to Liv yet.”

“Of course, of course. How large are you going? And how much of this workplace is invited?” Damien continues, “and when will you start telling people?”

“Not small - we tried to restrict it as much as we could because we don’t want extravagant or anything, but the numbers got pretty high pretty quickly. Still finalising, of course, but yeah. And as for here – everyone from the Smosh side, crew and cast and support included. From the Mythical side, just people we know – so like, Rhett and Link and Josh and Stevie and a couple other writers. And as soon as we finalise the guest list and settle on a date, we’ll send out save the dates or something.”

“Makes sense, makes sense. Sorry for all the question barrage, it’s just – interesting. And super exciting, I’m so happy for you, dude. I know it was already coming, but you excited it’s a little more really happening now?” he asks, and Shayne lets himself grin as much as he genuinely wants to.

“Yeah. So fucking excited. I can’t wait to marry her,” Shayne replies, letting Damien pull him into a quick hug in response before they both school their features to return to work.

————————————————

Over the next week, they manage to ask the remainder of their wedding party, and everyone immediately says yes to being groomsmen and bridesmaids as they are asked. They pull together a WhatsApp group between all of them once everyone is asked, and get down to the important business: dates.

“We’re thinking May 9th, 16th or 23rd – all Sundays. Thoughts? Any we can rule out?” Shayne sends, only twelve hours after he’s asked one of his long-term friends from his early days in LA, Tristan, to be his groomsmen and finished off all their asking.

“23rd isn’t great for me, other two are fine though…” Chris is the first to reply. Kari and Cole jump in quickly to say they can be flexible around any of the dates given the length of notice.

“Earlier in the month is better for me, but I can probably be flexible if it needs to be the 23rd…” Courtney’s friend Rachel supplies, a few hours later. Hannah and Olivia take longer to get back to them, although neither of them really has a problem with any suggested date.

“I mean… the 16th is only a few days off our 2-year anniversary,” Shayne muses, late in the evening when they are lazily flicking through house listings online.

“Should we just jump on the 16th now and hope we’ve got early enough notice there shouldn’t be many issues?” Courtney suggests, Shayne nodding slowly in response.

“Yeah, I think so. And I mean – anyone we’re close enough to for it to be _really_ important that they’re there, would probably be able to shuffle other things around for a wedding, right? I’ve shuffled things around for people’s weddings before…” he trails off, Courtney nodding.

“It’s been quite a while since I’ve been to a wedding, weirdly enough – but yeah, sure. I guess we gotta do the whole guest list finalising and sending out save the dates thing then, right?” she prompts.

“Indeed. This weekend?”

It ends up being quite the weekend: when they go to finalise their guest list it doesn’t get any smaller – instead, when they start remembering partners and likely +1s they’d forgotten about earlier and people that they definitely couldn’t not invite given other people they definitely had to invite, it grows past 200.

“I mean… like, it sounds like a lot, but it’s not that bad, really? I think it just sounds like more than it is, because I mean, once that’s spread across a venue and things- yeah. I think it’s fine,” Courtney reassures herself as much as she does Shayne, when they look over what is probably their final list. So, they proceed to creating Save The Date cards to send out to everyone – they are yet to have a clear picture of any aesthetic, theme or colours for their actual wedding, so they go with a traditional silver/white/black vibe and slightly loopy text – and collating addresses, both postal and email where it just makes no sense to actually send something in the post.

Shayne has a Goldbergs shoot on the Monday that finishes before Courtney is finished at Smosh for the same day, so he takes the responsibility of heading to a print shop to collect the actual cards and envelopes they had requested the print for over the weekend.

“I got them! They look pretty good, actually,” Shayne comments, pulling one out of the bag the print shop had provided their small cards and equally small envelopes in to hand over to Courtney when he arrives home.

“Oh, they do, awesome. Nice, I love the silver shimmer on the paper – glitter without actually inflicting fucking glitter on anyone!” Courtney enthuses, with a laugh, “so, I guess we may as well like… start sending and giving them out, where appropriate?”

They drop the ones to be actually posted into a post box on the way to work the following morning, and they hit send on an email Courtney sets up – Shayne isn’t exactly the more technologically-savvy of the two, so he lets her handle that part – to individually address each person and then nicely display a digital version of the save the date just before they leave for work. They figure they may as well physically hand over the ones going to those they’ll be seeing in the office that day, though, so they arrive a few minutes early to do just that.

They don’t make a big show out of it – Shayne slips over to the Mythical side of the building when they first get there, quietly knocking on the doors of the relevant offices and either stepping inside and handing over the card with a smile or leaving it on a desk if the intended recipient is not yet there.

“Ooh, wedding time?” Stevie is the one to actually acknowledge it, and Shayne nods.

“Well – not until May next year, but yes, wedding planning time,” he grins, and she laughs.

“Amazing. I’m guessing most of your side of the building and just a handful here will be invited?” she confirms, Shayne nodding before he moves on, saying good morning to everyone he passes as he wanders back to the Smosh side of the building.

It’s not possible for them to keep it quiet over their side of the building, given literally everyone in the office at the time they’re handing them out is invited and gets one.

“Oh my god, Shourtney wedding!” Ian enthuses, loudly, “Damien, why aren’t you getting pumped about this?”

“Uh…” Damien trails off, with half a laugh, looking at the couple for help.

“Because obviously Damien is my best man and he already knew,” Shayne grins, Ian nodding in understanding.

“Oh, right, that makes sense. Well, I know this is just a save the date, but y’all know you can absolutely count on me to be there,” Ian confirms.

“Well of course, Smosh-Dad,” Courtney jokes, before they split and move around the office to finish handing out their save-the-dates.


	77. Chapter 71: Blackjack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another good place to reiterate that this is a fictional story, and let’s never objectify real people, yeah? Also, I know I’ve jumped back and forth between referring to the cast during character-playing by their actual names and their character names. It’s roughly to indicate in vs out of character, but most of it should make sense in context and apologies if it does not.

They get a lot of the wedding talk for the rest of the day, although they have a fairly filming-dense week so it quickly gives way to work talk.

“Oooh oh no boy,” Courtney starts, grinning as she picks up a piece of paper sitting on top of her laptop on the dining table before they leave for work the following morning, “I’m Brianna Boho today.”

“Oh, fun,” Shayne laughs, “character blackjack, yeah?”

“Mmmmhm. You’re doing something new, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, fake Spencer but kinda weird martial arts… something. Found a sword in props the other day, I’ll work it out as I go a little. Why did you say oh no for Brianna?” he raises an eyebrow.

“If I get fully into her, which I will because it’s fun as much as because I need to for work – which dude at the office d’you think I’ll start harassing this time? Given everything at the moment, and the fact you’re the most likely to be okay with me hitting on you even if in character… probs you, my boy,” she explains, eyes twinkling.

“I mean, yeah, I don’t mind when you target me with Brianna, but that’s easy for you, I gotta try not to react,” he muses in response.

“Easy to hit on you, sure, but keeping it close enough to PG for the cameras?” she laughs, shaking her head, “come on, we need to get going soon, Boho takes a while with the fake nails and whatever and it’s an early shoot.”

It had been a while since she’d played Brianna Boho, and honestly, she kind of missed it. Brianna was one of her favourite characters – she could step into it almost entirely, pushing confidence and self-assurance up to a point Courtney rarely did herself. Well, before Shayne, anyway – sometimes she could push the confidence as herself with him. Even then, she was rarely quite as explicit in front of other people as Briana was, and she was definitely less into certain non-monogamous sex-only relationship dynamics.

She was in full outfit this time: thigh-high heeled boots, fishnets, high shorts and low shirt. She was provided a sizeable handful of chains to layer around her neck this time, too, plus the traditional cross earrings, the wig, the makeup. Wardrobe starts to get busy, with Tommy and Damien also putting considerable effort into their characters – Shayne’s is a little quicker, just a shirt and hair change – so she takes her matte black fake nails through to the breakroom to apply in relative peace.

“Hey, Brianna!” Ian jokes, stepping into the room as she dabs adhesive onto her fourth finger.

“Not yet, still putting the nails on,” she tells him, in her own voice, and Ian laughs.

“Of course, of course, how could it be her without those terrifying claw nails? Who you think is going to get the Brianna harassment today?” He asks, clearly on for a chat, and she feels herself blush slightly under the Brianna makeup. Okay, so it’s a thing that she does in the character, she’s literally fake-hit on Ian as Brianna before, but still.

“Look, Shayne is in the video-“ she doesn’t continue.

“I think it’s kinda funny when you mess with him, I mean, he gets way more awkward and embarrassed about being turned on in public than you are – when he’s sober, anyway – so you know,” Ian shakes his head, and Courtney shrugs.

“He’s still a shy boy at heart. We kinda struggled to play Bryce and Brianna back in January because both of us playing those characters felt like too much on-camera innuendo for us at once. But with just me doing it, it isn’t quite so bad, so… I might be a little more open to messing with him a little,” she grins.

“Yeah, that makes sense – I mean, Bryce and Brianna might not need to be so direct at each other anymore, that’s fine, don’t want to make you two uncomfortable with too much on camera. Is it Brianna or Courtney hitting on him when you’re Brianna and he’s out of character, though?”

“Usually when Brianna hits on someone it’s her, not me at all. Genuinely helps me get into the character. Buttttt…” she drags the word out, “maybe sometimes I have used her to be able to hit on Shayne in particular.”

“Now?” Ian pushes.

“On camera, Brianna. Elsewhere… a little bit of Courtney if not entirely me. And maybe on camera it might be me slipping through too just using her words. Anyway, stop distracting me, I gotta get these nails done. Go find Tommy to bug, he’s got a great character today,” Courtney shoos Ian out of the room, and he goes willingly, leaving Courtney to finish her nail application.

“Hey babe,” she kicks Shayne’s chair when she walks past to sit at her own desk until their call time to head back to the studio, and he turns to look at her cautiously, eyes fixed on her face.

“Hey, who are you right now?” he asks.

“Still Courtney,” she laughs, although she reaches a finger out to hold up in front of his eyes. It works, she sees his gaze lock onto it, and she then uses it to drag his eyes down to her chest. Just for fun.

“Oh, uh-“ he mumbles, voice cracking slightly and cheeks turning bright red. He bites his lip a minute later, tearing his eyes back to her face to see her silent laughter. “Nice.”

“I know,” she slips into a little of the Boho confidence.

She steps into the character more completely when she walks over to the studio, switching up her gait to intentionally fall on a clear rhythm and starting to throw out Boho-appropriate quips to the people around her. She mostly sticks to the money and clout vibes for the start, but she does wrap herself around Shayne from behind as they all gather in the studio.

“Ooh, you got as many abs as I got DUIs, wanna chill sometime? And chill means seeeeeeexxxxxx-“

Shayne is not yet in character, and she can feel him force a laugh although his gaze on her is slightly more strained. Everyone around them laughs, and she pretends that was the point.

She makes sure to sit beside him at the table, continuing to let her lines veer sexual only when directed at him and a little more stupid, drunk and self-obsessed with everyone else. It takes them a while to set up, and she makes her presence known as they all bounce improv off each other as a preparation of sorts.

“Ohmigodddd I love your look!” she tells Damien, “so aesthetic!”

“Thank you ma’am, I also support your outfit choice,” Damien responds, before adding with a little more snark than his character allows, “although I must ask, is that an engagement ring?”

It throws her for a second.

“Oh my god!” she emphasises, voice approaching screeching tone, as she reaches over to fiddle with her own engagement ring that she had forgotten to take off, rapidly trying to justify not removing it now, “of course not, I’m Brianna Boho bitch I don’t like commitment or monogamy.”

“I- I love commitment, commitment to my training and my sword,” Shayne speaks up in response, voice forced-deep yet airy, lifting his referenced prop sword up onto the table. She still doesn’t quite get the dimensions of his character, but she can’t resist the opportunity, even as her mind continues to stick on what she’s going to do with her ring for the shoot.

“You got such a big sword there,” she tells him, as flirtatiously as she can manage, overstating fluttering (fake) eyelashes as she leans forward towards him. He huffs and makes a comment as if she meant the actual sword, but his laughter breaks through it with ease and after a moment he slips out of character entirely.

“Maybe if Brianna doesn’t have an engagement ring but that one gotta stay on, it could just swap to your right hand. Or someone behind camera can look after it,” he suggests, clearly trying to avoid referring to her out of character. Part of her wants to respond as herself, but she’s deep in the vibe and they’re so close to starting the video.

“Nah boo, Brianna got sparkles everywhere and like clearly someone just thinks I’m suuuuper hot and like if they don’t know everyone wants me then that’s their problem,” she shoots back.

“Oh, I think Spencer thinks you’re hot too,” Damien jumps in, but Shayne shakes his head and throws an exasperated middle finger up towards Damien.

“You tryna kill me today, Court?”

She winks at him in response, attention turning as Sarah finally sits at the head of the table and they move towards the start of the video. They start with their character introductions, and she runs with the prevailing mood of their preparation and leans into the sex drive things. Tommy’s Janabelle seems like the one she can get the most fun out of, though, and she starts with a query about his blush.

“I threw my face down into two little piles of blood!” Janabelle rasps.

“Ohmigod I love that!” she replies, before they move into the first round of the game. She busts, quickly, and it gives her a joke about busting to intentionally overuse for the rest of the shoot.

She catches the movement of Shayne’s hand around the shaft of his sword – honestly, the innuendo is right there – during her first turn, and she hopes it’s unintentional, but she still decides to mention it.

“The way you’re stroking that sword is very-“ she starts, trailing off in a laugh.

“In many ways a samurai has a sexual relationship with his sword,” he answers, Shayne breaking into laughter afterwards alongside everyone else, and she hopes it’s the end of it.

It isn’t. He keeps doing it, and between the third and fourth rounds – just after she’s made a joke about hitting on Sarah and suggested getting drinks with Jannabelle – she catches him stroking the sword even more clearly and it makes her feel warm and legitimately turned on and like maybe her cheeks are flushed enough for it to show through her extensive Brianna Boho makeup.

“Can you just- oh my god, stop,” she tells him, hand out towards the sword but refusing to meet his eyes, slipping a little out of the Brianna voice as she does. Everyone laughs, and she tries to laugh it off too and move on, quietly glad he seems to listen to her and cease holding the prop quite so sensually.

He starts spreading his legs then, though, a little wider every time she looks over until his knee ends up pressed against her own thigh. She acknowledges it then, but this time he doesn’t move, instead making a joke about vent infiltration stances and not long later, throwing one leg up on the table. She gives it a couple minutes, but at the next break in conversation she lifts her own leg up to the table, shifting closer to him in the process.

“Impressive,” Shayne/Spencer tells her, quiet compared to the chaos of the rest of the video. It causes her gaze to drift across his way for a moment, and she fights not to react to the way she can just tell he’s reacting a certain way to her. It causes her to push through the rest of the video with less interaction with him, instead continuing to riff on the idea of Brianna and Janabelle getting drinks together.

Shayne and Damien drop character the second cut is called, although Tommy and her continue to joke a little between each other. Courtney stays firmly in character as Brianna, very aware of the latitude it gives her to hit on the man beside her who is now laughing at nothing with Sarah and Damien.

Truthfully, the laughing is a distraction as he fills his mind with anything except Courtney or Brianna or whoever she is right now, desperately trying to calm himself before he has to stand up. The embarrassment he feels over not being able to not react to her during a shoot helps as he settles out of character, honestly, and by the time they all move away from the Board AF table to leave the studio he’s fine, if not a little on edge.

Of course, Brianna/Courtney steps up the flirting again, hand landing firmly on his ass and actively acknowledging it as they wander back towards wardrobe. He doesn’t give a verbal response, although he glances towards her to quietly let her know he does not mind if she continues.

“I’m sad, you stopped showing off your sword, I wanna see it,” she wines, and he rolls his eyes as his cheeks flush, although he moves his gait closer to her as he does.

“You know, with all that muscle you would be great for my clout if you were shirtless on my insta- c’mon, you up for it?” she pushes, next, and he largely ignores her given they’ve reached wardrobe and are splitting off to change back into their own outfits given their next shoot is both not for a couple hours and not in character. Brianna follows Shayne, of course, choosing not to change out of her own look just yet and watching as he pulls off his necklace and shirt to replace with his own white tee and open button-up.

She lets her hand land on his abs as he pulls his shirt off, running up for a moment until he denies her further access as he pulls his own shirt on. She reaches up instead, then, both hands running through his hair to return it to roughly his usual style. She uses the angle to push her chest towards his face, too, laughing when his eyes shoot straight to her cleavage.

“You can touch, boo, always horny and always up for it,” she tells him, voice as sultry as she can manage while maintaining Brianna’s higher pitch. He doesn’t touch, but he gives a guttural hum and steps away from her ever-so-slightly.

“You getting changed?”

“Not yet, can’t waste this outfit, gotta get the outfit of the day photos for all my fans and all,” she shoots back, still full Brianna. He nods, and she watches him take a deep breath.

“You wanna pose somewhere and I can take the photos?” he asks.

It’s a slight redirection from her flirting, intentional on his part and clear to her. She agrees, though, leading him outside to pose against the brick side wall of their office building. She doesn’t let up on the blatant hitting on him between photos, though, although he seems to let himself settle into it a little more now they are alone outside.

“You know there’s no one ese here, you don’t need to be so in character – unless you aren’t and this is Courtney hitting on me right now,” Shayne tells her, voice deeper than usual. It makes her shiver and step closer to him.

“I’m whoever you want me to be,” she answers, halfway between Brianna’s voice and her own as she moves away from the wall and indicates she’s done with photos. She sees his eyes flash with something and she takes the chance, moving to wrap herself around him from the side, chest pressed against him and hand coming to settle on his hip with fingers reached down to almost brush the reappearing bulge at his crotch.

“Fuck, Courtney,” he openly groans, eyes shooting around for a moment to confirm they’re alone in the car park before he reaches down and shifts her hand on his hip further down to cup his crotch, “you’re literally making me hard at work.”

“Then let me help you deal with that,” she answers, entirely in her own voice. She presses a sharp kiss – biting teeth and all – to his neck before she steps away. As much as she wants to, she doesn’t take his hand – it’s not a Brianna thing to do – but she figures she can trust him to follow her back inside like a lost puppy anyway. She’s right – her brief glance back as she steps into their usual slightly hidden private bathroom shows him right behind her.


	78. Chapter 71 Part 2: EXPLICIT CONTENT (Optional)

She drops the character as she flicks the bathroom lock shut, although she keeps the confidence, immediately shrugging off her jacket to let it fall to the floor and reaching for the button on his pants.

“Fuck, baby,” he huffs, “I can take some Brianna flirting but-“

“I felt like teasing you today. Sorry, not sorry,” she tells him, reaching into his underwear and pulling out his penis, immediately moving to lightly stroke it in her hand.

“Oh, you Courtney now?” he confirms, a little breathless.

“Mhm. I mean, if I hit on anyone else wearing this it’s Brianna. But you… it’s me. You are mine,” she reinforces, fluttering her eyelashes a little, and he nods.

“Can I touch you?”

“Please,” she requests, not surprised when his hands immediately reach for her chest. He seems to change his mind after a moment, though, hands shifting to instead grip her bare waist as he leans forward to press messy kisses against her chest.

“I don’t have a shirt to put on between here and wardrobe,” she reminds him, and he sighs, although his kisses get softer in response and she knows he understands.

“You can’t actually take those shorts off, can you?” He mumbles when he pulls back.

“Nope,” she confirms, popping the p, “as turned on as I am, I don’t think I can ask you to do anything for me right now. But...”

Her hand returns to his erection as she trails off, shifting his shorts down, a slow pumping motion causing him to stutter through a gasp.

She increases the pressure and speed of her motions after a moment, before sinking to her knees.

“Jesus, angel,” he murmurs, although when her tongue makes contact with his head he doesn’t complain, fingers reaching down to knot in her hair. She quickly progresses from sucking his tip to taking his full length in her mouth, encouraging his thrusts to match her bobbing up and down on his length. He groans softly a few times, but a glance up from her tells her he’s trying his best to stay quiet for the sake of where they are.

“I’m going to-“ he starts to warn her, and as she often does now, she responds by deepthroating him as far into her mouth as she can, letting her throat spasm and flutter around him to bring him right to the edge. She pulls back as she feels him start cumming, though, taking and holding all his ejaculate in her mouth before swallowing as he pulls out.

“God, Courtney,” he sighs, leaning heavily back against the bathroom wall as he tucks himself back inside his underwear and does his pants up, “so that just happened.”

She laughs at that, wandering over to the sink to rinse her mouth and pop a couple of mints that are thankfully kept in the bathroom for the sake of gross food challenges.


	79. Chapter 72: House Searching

“That just happened. But- I’m going to go change now, and you can return to whatever you’re meant to be doing separately so it isn’t obvious we’ve been hiding in a bathroom together,” Courtney tells him.

“Yeah, but first…” Shayne trails off, reaching out for her. She complies, stepping into his arms and letting her own settle at his waist as he places a gentle kiss against her lips.

“Love you,” she whispers.

“Love you too. And it was very sweet you didn’t want to take your ring off, but can I ask why?” he asks, and she smiles shyly.

“I don’t usually mind taking it off for shoots and characters and whatever and I don’t really know why but today I just… didn’t want to take it off and hand it over to someone else, however much they probably would’ve looked after it fine. I just needed to protect it,” she shrugs, and he nods. He leans forward to kiss her one last time before finally stepping away and out of the bathroom, wandering alone back towards the office.

“Where’ve you been?” Ian swoops on him the second he steps into said office.

“Various places,” he shrugs casually, “helped Court takes some photos while she was still Brianna, chatting with the editors about some stuff.”

He can tell Ian doesn’t buy it.

“Where is Courtney? Haven’t seen her since the shoot either.”

“I dunno, last I knew she said she was going to get changed,” Shayne answers, feigning ignorance.

“Hmm, okay then, ah well,” Ian nods. He winks at him before he leaves Shayne to go, though, and Shayne sighs as he continues on to his own desk.

————————————————

“Whatcha up to, Shayney baby?” Courtney asks him, leaning down against the back of the sofa behind him the next Saturday afternoon, having just finished a makeup-testing Instagram live in their bedroom.

“Half-assed house searching,” he answers, and she quickly launches herself over the back of the couch to take a seat beside him, nudging his laptop slightly to the side so she too can look over it.

“Found anything?”

“Nothing exactly, but I think like… ideas? There’s a lotta stuff out there to choose from, I think I’m getting more of an idea of what I don’t like than what I do,” he muses, flicking through a few tabs to show her options he’s brought up.

They are, thankfully, generally in agreement: they want a couple bathrooms and ideally three bedrooms, they want the rest of the space to be relatively open plan and flexible, they want a kitchen that actually functions as a usable kitchen not just a tiny little thing they could never prepare a casual meal for friends or family in.

“Backyard would be nice. I mean, I know maintenance and all, but it’d be cool to have some outdoor space sometimes, you know?” Courtney muses, when they flick through the photos on one particular listing of a nice-looking house only a few blocks from their current apartment, featuring a small grassy back courtyard.

“For sure, and I mean, would be cool for the kids when they come over, and so we don’t have to go to your Dad’s every time you feel like lying in the sun in a bikini…” he teases, Courtney laughing.

“Yeah, but my Dad’s place got the pool still.”

“I actually have zero complaints about hanging out at your Dad’s place, it’s fun. But anyway… you think maybe we should like, go to an inspection for this one, just have a closer look? See how it all goes?” he suggests, and she nods.

They remain low-key about their house searching, but from that point, it picks up. They go to two open inspections on the following Saturday and another on the Sunday, and although none of them quite tick all the boxes they want, they give them increasingly clear ideas of what they want (and even clearer ideas of what they don’t). They tick off a couple more the following weekend, plus a conversation with a mortgage broker that Rob knows about finance rates, land taxes and a whole host of concepts around home ownership that pull them both _way_ outside their comfort zone.

“Okay, so that was… a lot,” Courtney comments, driving them home from said discussion with the mortgage broker.

“It was,” Shayne responds, clear discomfort to his tone. She chooses to change the topic.

“I mean, leaving that aside, I think the place we looked at this morning was pretty close to the kind of thing we’re after just maybe not in that particular location, right?” she suggests.

“Yeah, yeah, I think it is,” his tone brightens, so they continue that conversation for their drive home and into the evening.

They already knew the basics, of course, but the start of their searching has cemented further details. They need undercover secure storage for two cars, and although it’s not strictly necessary they do like the idea of solar panels that they’re finding on some of their options. They want the three bedrooms to be a decent size, given their own bed isn’t small and they want a decent guest room plus a proper workspace for both of them when they’re doing various types of work-from-home activities in the third room. Security is important, too: they had nixed one place within 2 minutes of arrival for the open inspection purely based on its wide windows open to the street in front of it and lack of locked gate – it’s not like they were paparazzi famous, but they were known enough that doxxing is a risk and they would prefer not to make it easier.

Their search becomes increasingly focussed, although it remains largely unsuccessful, in a way: they end up at a handful of additional inspections, but for the most part, they aren’t exactly right.

“I mean, that’s okay, though. It’s not like we’re in a rush, it’s just if we do find something,” Shayne muses after one such outing on a Saturday morning, and Courtney nods in confirmation.

They hit up one they are quite interested in on a Tuesday afternoon, and the second they arrive they lock eyes with raised eyebrows. It feels… a bit better. A bit more right.

They move slowly through the property, taking care to notice the details that they’ve been advised matter: window locks (of course), warping on the bathroom ceiling, damage to the architraves and door jams. It all checks out, to the point that Shayne takes Courtney’s hand to hold them back in the backyard after the others wandering through the property move back inside to hold a quick, mostly-silent conversation.

“It’s… yeah,” he murmurs, not needing to elaborate.

“Yeah, do we…?” she confirms, questioning their next move. Shayne merely nods, and they step inside, heading towards the real estate agent showing the place.

Both of them are suddenly struck with massive waves of anxiety, but they push through, hands still locked together as they locate and head for said agent, noticing him talking to another couple that look maybe five years older than them.

“Absolutely, yes, I will take that offer to the seller this evening,” the agent tells the other couple before they step away, and Shayne and Courtney both experience the same sinking feeling.

The agent confirms a minute later when he turns to talk to them: an offer has already been made, and all he can do is offer to contact them if it falls through, but they’d need to have all their finance already sorted to be in with a chance.

They do not. They drive home in silence.

“We tried. I guess… there’s always going to be more places, it’s not like that was the be all and end all of potentials,” Shayne murmurs, lying in bed that evening.

“Yeah, and I guess we gotta work on getting the finance and whatever under control,” she responds. He doesn’t reply, but he turns and shifts backwards towards her in a clear request for cuddles which she is happy to provide.

————————————————

The topic isn’t broached again until the following evening. They’ve had a long – albeit positive – filming day at work, and Courtney would be quite content to just collapse onto their sofa and do a whole lot of nothing, maybe watch a terrible movie at the most, until bed. Shayne has other ideas, though, immediately reopening his laptop when he sits down and navigating to a real estate site.

“You go ahead, baby, I just don’t think I’m up to house searching tonight,” she tells him, quickly glancing back to flick through Instagram on her phone.

“Why not?” he pushes, a tenseness to his tone that makes her pause for a moment before she replies.

“Just a long day, I’m kind of brain dead, not exactly in the right space for it – but I mean, if you want to shortlist some options, I can always look at them tomorrow morning or later in the week or something, if you want my opinion too?” she suggests.

“We’ll have missed anything by then,” he mumbles, tersely, and she sighs.

“Hey, Shayne, it’s okay. The same thing isn’t going to happen over and over again – that one place was clearly more in demand than anywhere else we’ve looked anyway, there were heaps of people there. We’ll find something, we’re not going to miss out just because we take a day off looking,” she reasons.

“What if we fucking do though? Is this too fucking hard for you, or something?” he snaps, suddenly, and it causes Courtney to turn sharply to the side to face him directly.

“Shayne…” she says, cautiously, but he moves his laptop off his lap onto the table and stands from the sofa, clenching fists and shaking his head. She follows him in standing up, stepping around the coffee table to stand facing him in the middle of the living room.

“No, for fuck’s sake, we’re meant to be buying a house and I mean – fucking planning a wedding and everything too, are you not fucking mature enough to talk about this shit, to actually care about all this shit? Is all the finance too much for you or something, are you going to act like you’re fucking twenty?” he continues, each word harsh and determined and raising in volume until his last statement is entirely yelled. It makes her feel sick, and she _knows_ it’s him misdirecting his own insecurity about the previous evening, but it makes tears prick behind her eyes anyway and all she can think of to do is lean into her own anger.

“You’re calling me immature? Fucking hypocrite, you’re the one that can’t handle one fucking setback,” she shoots back.

“Oh, really, you putting it on me? I’m the one doing this shit! You’re not fucking doing anything, you’re being pathetic!” he exclaims.

She doesn’t choose to respond, this time, instead turning on her heel as quickly as she can as she feels hot tears sting in her eyes and start running down her cheeks, grabbing her conveniently nearby bag she hadn’t unpacked from earlier and walking straight out of the apartment. There are literally tears streaming down her face, now, and he probably saw the start of them, but she tries not to think about that as she gets in her car and starts driving.

She’s halfway to Olivia and Sam’s place – she figures Olivia is the right person to go to when she’s crying over a fight with her fiancé, right? – when she starts to reconsider, pulling off to the side of the road on a random street, double-checking her doors are locked as she roughly leans back against the headrest and looks up at the ceiling of her Fiat.

She reaches for her driving slinky, pulling at its edges roughly as she tries to blink away her tears and define exactly who she wants to see right now. Thousand Oaks is too far to drive, and she’s not entirely sure she wants to see her Dad. Not Kari, either, she’d just get pissed at Shayne and not much else, and Olivia might be the same. Sure, she has other close friends, but not _that_ close, and…

She twists her keys in the ignition again, indicating to shift back out on the road and change direction, a clear destination a little further away than Olivia’s, but not Thousand Oaks far, in mind.


	80. Chapter 73: Overwhelmed

“Fuck!” Shayne exclaims, when she steps out of the house, “fuck, shit, fuck, Shayne you absolute fucking idiot dickhead what the fuck did you just do why the fuck did you-“

He continues cussing himself out as he starts pacing back and forth across the room. He was never angry at her, she didn’t do anything wrong, he was angry at himself and he was scared and the previous evening had made him feel so overwhelmed and inadequate and out of control and out of his depth and- instead of admitting that, instead of talking to her, he’s turned around and made up some bullshit to turn it on her. He hurt her.

The thought makes him collapse back onto the sofa in a fit of angry tears. He hurt Courtney, he did it with intent, and the guilt makes him feel sick to his stomach as he sobs on the couch for five minutes, breath coming out in disorganised gasps.

He picks up his phone roughly from the dining table when he gains some control over his own breathing again, pulling up her contact and hitting call. He presses the phone tightly against his ear as it rings twice, three times, five, six- it rings out with no response, and he ends the call before her voicemail message appears. She doesn’t ever listen to voicemail messages anyway, so he flicks to a text instead.

“Hey. I’m sorry, I fucked up, I didn’t mean any of that at all. I know you’re mad at me and you have every right to be but please come home?” he sends, sniffling through his tears as he does.

He forces himself off the couch after repetitively reading over his message for a few minutes, falling back into nervous pacing across the living room, waiting for some noise – any noise – from his phone. It doesn’t come, but he eventually decides to move further into the kitchen, pulling out various ingredients to prep for her favourite ramen. Her comfort food. They were going to get takeaway for dinner, but he figures it’s the least he can do.

His ears continue to strain constantly for his ringtone or his text tone, but nothing comes. He makes it thirty minutes after his last message until he can no longer take it, the nausea in his abdomen as his mind swims with guilt and worry directing him back to check his phone. She hasn’t even read the message. He’s genuinely worried he might throw up.

“Courtney? Can you at least let me know you’re okay?” he sends a second message, staring at it sitting unread on the screen for another five minutes.

He figures if she’s gone anywhere, it’s would be one of two places: Olivia’s, or her Dad’s. Two people he’d promised he’d never hurt her, who trusted him implicitly even before he made that promise. It makes him feel like absolute _shit_ and he grabs his own wallet and keys, shoving his phone into his pocket as he too steps out of the house and towards his car.

————————————————

Courtney can see Ian go to make a joke about her unexpected arrival at his door at 8pm on a Wednesday night, but he clearly assesses her appearance – makeup running, arms crossed protectively around herself, tears actively running down her face – and decides otherwise. Instead, he steps to the side and opens the door wider, silently gesturing for her to come in.

It’s only then that she realises how weird it probably is to turn up at her boss’s house crying at this hour. She’s never done it before – in fact, she’s pretty sure the only person whose door she had turned up at crying in her adult life was Shayne’s before they started dating – but it’s too late now. Plus, the thought of Shayne comforting her sends a rush of mixed emotions through her mind: she’s fucking _hurt_ , and she’s angry, and she doesn’t want to see his stupid face but she desperately wishes she was in his arms.

Her text tone goes off in her bag, the second time since she’d left the house. She ignores it, sitting down at Ian’s dining table across from him when he subtly directs her to do so. Ian doesn’t speak, but he watches her with concern.

“I had a fight with Shayne,” she mumbles, after a few minutes of silence.

“I figured as much. If anything else upset you, you’d go to him,” Ian replies, his first words since inviting her in.

His voice is more cautious and understanding than she expects, but she still continues silently looking down at the table, fiddling with a loose thread at the sleeve of her jacket.

“What happened?” Ian prompts her, and she gives a long sigh before she begins explaining.

“We’ve kind of been looking to buy a house. Not… super seriously, just, kinda looking around. And we got an idea of what we want, but all the buying side of it is… totally new to us, mortgage finance rates and body corporate fees and land taxes and whatever. It’s overwhelming, we haven’t really got our heads around it yet, and we saw a place yesterday evening that we really loved but someone put in an offer immediately and we aren’t in a position to do that yet. I didn’t feel like talking about it tonight, but when I said that he snapped and yelled at me about being too immature and pathetic and not putting enough effort into this. Or the wedding planning. Which isn’t true, I’ve put as much as him into both of them, and it fucking hurt. He’s never yelled at me before,” she explains, before looking back down at the table.

“Do you have any idea why he snapped?” Ian asks gently, and she nods.

“Yesterday really threw him. He’s overwhelmed and scared about all of this and I think everything he redirected onto me is what he’s feeling himself but he just won’t admit it-,” she sighs, glancing down to the side where her bag rests on the floor as she is briefly interrupted by her text tone again going off, “-and instead of trying to support him I leant into feeling hurt, got defensive, put it back on him and called him a hypocrite and then walked out. And now I’m ignoring what I’m assuming is him trying to contact me, because I know it’ll make him worry and feel guilty.”

“Is this the first time you’ve fought?” Ian asks, and she nods.

“Yeah. We just don’t. We talk about things instead,” she mumbles.

“Why did you come here, not go to Liv’s or one of your other female friends’ places?” he queries, and she shrugs awkwardly before she replies.

“Liv or Kari or whoever would side with me, say he was being an asshole and he deserves whatever I throw back at him and encourage me to ignore him for a bit or something. And yeah, he was an asshole, but… you’re not going to let me off the hook just because he was being an asshole first, are you?”

“Yeah, I’m not. Because I mean, absolutely, even if he is overwhelmed and whatever it’s not at all cool that he took it out on you – but you clearly know that what you’re doing now is just trying to make him feel bad in retribution by wanting him to worry and feel guilty, and that’s not going to help fix anything,” Ian confirms, Courtney nodding.

“Yeah. You know what fucking sucks? He hurt me. A lot. But all I really want is for him to hug me until everything is okay again, but I- I’m still defensive and angry and I don’t want to just accept it,” she mutters.

“You still love him, even if he fucked up this once, that’s normal. You just gotta work out what conditions you want to be able to feel less hurt,” he reassures her.

————————————————

“Shit, dude, what’s happened?” Damien answers his door, face immediately filling with concern at Shayne’s red, tear-stained face as he immediately steps into Damien’s living room and collapses into the corner of the couch, bursting into tears as he does.

“I fucked up,” Shayne manages after a moment, as Damien takes a seat on the coffee table just off to the side from facing him directly, “I- this house stuff is so overwhelming, and we liked a place yesterday but a couple with their shit way more together than us put in an offer immediately and we can’t do that because we don’t have our shit together and I feel so out of my depth and stupid and childish and- instead of admitting that I turned around and yelled at _her_ about being immature or whatever. I’m so angry at myself, I hurt her and I feel so guilty I want to be sick because I never wanted to hurt her ever but I did it on purpose and she just up and left the apartment and now I don’t know where she is and she’s ignoring my texts and I feel like an asshole and I need to give her space but I’m worried and I miss her-“

He cuts himself off, hands reaching up to roughly rub against his own face.

“I’m not going to say you didn’t massively fuck up there, Shayne, because you absolutely did and I can’t say I’m not a little pissed at you for hurting my friend, but I think you know that well enough. What have you texted her since?” Damien asks, Shayne sighing as he reaches for his phone and hands it over.

“I want to talk to her, I want to tell her how sorry I am and how much I didn’t mean any of it and that I’ll do anything to fix this because I love her and I will but- I know I can’t force it, I gotta give her space or time or whatever, but I just want to know she’s okay at least- I’m scared to call Liv or her Dad and ask if she’s with them, I don’t want to admit to them that I hurt her, it’d kill me with guilt,” he mumbles, as Damien reads over his texts.

“Do you want me to try texting her, see if she’ll answer someone other than you?” he offers, after a moment of consideration, and Shayne nods.

“I’ll try anything. I gotta know she’s okay.”

So, Damien types out his own careful text to Courtney.

“Hey Courtney. He’s been a complete asshole and if you want space that’s fine, but I’ve got Shayne on my couch crying because he’s angry at himself and he’s worried about you. Could you at least let him (or me) know that you’re somewhere safe? Hope you’re doing okay wherever you are.” He hits send as soon as he finishes, sitting in silence beside a still-sniffling – although no longer completely bawling – Shayne as he looks at his screen.

It switches to read only a couple of minutes later, the typing bubble popping up not long after it does. He aims the phone screen away from Shayne, wanting to be able to respect Courtney’s wishes if she says she doesn’t want Shayne to know something.

“I’m at Ian’s because I wanted to go to someone who would tell me as much as he was an ass, I’m being an asshole right back by ignoring him and making him worry. I’m fine, promise. I’ll text Shayne. Look after my boy for me until I get him back?” her text reads, and it makes Damien smile.

“She’s going to text you, she’s okay,” Damien confirms out loud, leaving out the details for her to tell him directly.

“Oh, thank god,” Shayne sighs in relief, although it seems to bring another wave of tears to his eyes.

————————————————

“I don’t know what to say to him, I want to talk to him in person, not over text,” Courtney mumbles, still sitting up at Ian’s dining table after sending off her text to Damien.

“Then don’t say anything by text – I mean, you’re welcome to stay here as long as you need, I don’t mind, but do you wanna ask him to meet back at your place, or somewhere else I guess, so you can talk?” Ian suggests, and she nods, turning back to her phone.

“I’m okay. I’m at Ian’s. I’m sorry too, I shouldn’t have left & ignored you, even if you were an ass. But I just want to talk it out with you and hug you until everything is okay again. Meet you at home?” she sends.

He doesn’t elaborate much, but he replies almost immediately with a heart emoji and a ‘see you soon’.

“I guess I’m gonna go then,” she looks back up at Ian.

“Mhm. Look, Court bourt, fights happen – but they suck, and you have every right to be upset with him over it. But it’s going to be alright, because you both want it to be alright, okay?” he reassures her, Courtney nodding in silence. She lets him pull her into a loose hug when they stand up from the table, briefly hugging him back,

“Thanks, Ian. Sorry if it was weird for me to just turn up. I just… needed an older brother figure, and I guess since my actual older brothers aren’t close, that’s you.”

“It’s all good, Courtney. Happy to help out my fake little sister anytime, mmkay?”


End file.
